Broken Spirit
by Magic halfblood
Summary: Alex Rider is 16 years old and mi6 want a guardian to take care of him. Who better than our favourite SAS soldier.
1. Chapter 1

James de Luca AKA wolf walked into the Royal and general bank feeling quite annoyed with himself. Well not with himself but with the bank. Only it wasn't just a bank right, it was the secret headquarters of mi6.

Wolf was irritated because the unit was supposed to be on leave while eagle recovered from a bullet wound, and even though there was still him, snake and fox (who came back about a year ago when he realised that SO wasn't meant for him) the sergeant thought it was better if they all just had leave until Eagle recovered.

Even though each of them were looking forward to going back to training, it didn't mean mi6 had any right to call him in for a stupid assignment .

Wolf walked up to the receptionist.

"I'm here for an appointment about some problems with my bank account details"

Stupid mi6 and their stupid lies.

"Mr de Luca right?"

He nodded

"Make your way up to room 7008"

Wolf still fuming, took the elevator, walked to the office door, and knocked

"Enter"

Wolf entered and was honestly surprised to see both the head and deputy head of mi6 sitting there. Nobody apart from those going on the most dangerous or classified missions, (meaning the top agents )ever got a meeting with the heads. And wolf was far from the best. He wasn't even an mi6 agent. So what in the world was he doing here.

"Have a seat please mr Luca" said Mrs Jones. Wolf had heard the rumours of her always sucking on a peppermint, and if the smell was anything to go by, then the rumours were true.

"We apologise" Mrs Jones began "for asking you to come in when you are on leave but we request your assistance. A boy of 16 years requires a guardian for a few months and we believe that guardian could be you"

Wolf was surprised. THIS is what he is supposed to spend his leave doing, looking after a 16 year old brat.

"It's not my place to question but why me?"

"Well you are already on leave and this assignment is not of that level of difficulty" Jones answered.

"But I'm a soldier, why not somebody else?"

"This person holds some classified information"

"But I'm a soldier, why not another agent?"

Mrs Jones' eye twitched ever so slightly

"This person is not the most" she paused as if looking for the right word "obedient of people. For the last year we have tried to have agents look after him but he either runs away or makes them run away. We hoped a soldier would have more control over him"

Great! Wolf thought. Not only would I have to take care of a stupid brat but a disobedient one at that.

He knew that he couldn't refuse this assignment so he just signed and nodded.

"I accept the assignment." Not that he had a choice.

Blunt nodded and spoke for the first time

"Seeing as your house has three bedrooms, but only you living there, he will be moving in to your place temporarily. He goes to a school near your house and all arrangements can be made with him. He will be moving in this afternoon"

Wolf nodded and knew he was dismissed, so he got up and walked out.


	2. Chapter 2

brick house holding a duffel bag. He was wearing a hoodie, jeans, plain white shirt, and his hair was hung over his eyes, shielding his face.

This boy was stereotypically the type of person your parents tell you to avoid, to never make friends with because of 'bad influence' and maybe your parents are right. Or maybe they're wrong.

This boy walked with a sense of purpose, every step defined. His chin was lifted, which most people would associate with arrogance, only with this boy, it was experience and the knowledge that he had far exceeded anybody he would come across including you.

And his eyes held this glint of mischievousness and endless amusement, as if your bare existence is amusing to him. Maybe it is.

People made well to stay clear from him, because one look at his always smirking face, and his mischievous eyes, and his all knowing smile, made you want to run in the other direction. And even if you searched the depths of his eyes, and the deepest parts of his soul, you will never find out the truth about this boy.

This boy was Alex Rider, and nobody ever finds out his secrets.

Alex took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He wondered who his knew guardian was going to be. After making the other 4 go crazy after just 2 weeks with him, Alex was curious about what blunt had in store for him. Surely blunt would have upped his game. He couldn't stand to lose his favourite new weapon, but that didn't mean he particularly liked the weapon, and Alex lived on the hope that one day he would see blunt crack, just like all the other agents, just like Alex.

Alex braced himself when he heard the door opening and came face to face with the last man he expected to see.

Wolf opened the door to see his new charge. He was the typical brat with dirty blond hair. He has relatively tall around 6ft and he held himself with the arrogance that all brats have. Except this one had more arrogance. Probably proud that he was 'important enough' for mi6. All in all wolf didn't like him one bit.

...

Alex was going to kill blunt. Blunt better watch out because the next time Alex saw him, there would be blood.

Seeing no recognition in wolfs face (thank goodness) Alex decided to have the first word (it was always the most important, after the last)

"Hi" Alex began, in a carefree and light tone, like he did with all the other guardians. "I was told I would be staying with you for a couple of months, mr Luca right?" Polite, use of 'mr', the question. Perfect.

Wolf grunted and made way for Alex to come in.

Alex entered and surveyed the hall way. It was normal, (no pictures on walls). The stares leading up were carpet but the ground floor was wooden. There were two rooms leading off from the hall way and a kitchen at the end.

"Nice place" Alex said as he dropped his bag in the hallway. For some reason this phrase always seemed to lower people's defences, even if it was only a bit.

Wolf grunted again then led Alex into the living room.

Wolf sat on the arm chair and gestured for Alex to sit on the couch.

"Before I show you where your room is, I want to set some ground rules.

I'm not going to bother with dumb stuff like curfew and that. I'm your guardian not your parent. I just want to know exactly were you are at all times. You make your own way to or from school. I don't want any of your friends or girlfriends or what not inside this house.

Mi6 has arranged for you to be here, and they have supplied the money for your stay. I will leave your daily allowances on the table in hall way every morning, I don't care what you spend it on. You already know about classified stuff so ask me no questions about my work.

Also I have some friends who regularly come and sometimes stay over so you probably would see them around. Other than that don't make too much noise and try to stay out of my way."

The kid nodded but said nothing. The twinkle in his eyes unnerved wolf slightly but wolf was a soldier and he didn't get unnerved by 16 year old kids.

"Oh and what's your name kid?"

"Alex"

"Alex what"

"Just Alex"

Wolf did not care enough to question so he led the kid up to his room.

"The bathroom is just across the corridor and my room is at the end. Never go into there."

Alex nodded and as soon as wolf left, he surveyed the room. A simple bed and cupboard and desk. No cameras or microphones. Good. Alex relaxed slightly. He then opened his duffel bag and took out his clothes to hang. He had his school uniform, and some other clothes. His other things were still at Ian's house incase he needed them, but he never stayed in one place too long. Clothes done, he turned his attention to his weapons. Mi6 didn't know he had these, and if they found out, well Alex didn't want to think about that, but he also didn't want to think about what would happens if he didn't have them with him at all times. There was his small hand gun, his two hand knives, and a switch blade. His other weapons were still in Ian's house. He could get them whenever he pleased.

Seemingly happy with his work, Alex dragged himself to the living room to see wolf sitting on the armchair holding a cup of what smelt like coffee.

This wasn't a coincidence, Blunt purposefully put Alex with wolf, knowing their hatred. It was all just because blunt was annoyed with Alex. This was probably a twisted revenge plot on blunts behalf to stop Alex's 'behaviour problems'.

Of course Blunt knew it was just an act but Alex could just imagine what went through his head

 _'if Alex wants to pretend he has behaviour problems then I will treat him like he does and put him with a trained SAS soldier who hates his guts. Perfect'_

Stupid Blunt.

The only thing stopping Alex from marching up to blunt was one small miscalculation on blunts behalf: wolf hadn't recognised Alex, and being the curious player he was, alex wanted to see how this new game would play out.

Alex had long since given hope of jumping of the chess board. He was just a pawn. But a pawn was able to reach the other side and become a queen right? Alex literally had gone to the 'other side' with scorpia before and it made Alex the most feared player in the game turning from not just a pawn into a queen, but from a pawn into a player. And blunt had better watch out, because so far, the game was running in Alex's favour.

Wolf looked up as Alex walked in and sat on the sofa.

"Hey" Alex said in a casual way. From the strange look that wolf was giving him, Alex suspected that blunt had told wolf about his "behaviour problems". Alex smiled internally. It was the fact that he was so polite and casual in the beginning, which made his later behaviour so unexpected . And the fact that he only pretended to have 'problems' made this whole game so hilarious.

"Hey" wolf replied cautiously.

Alex suppressed his smirk "what's for lunch?"

Wolf shrugged his shoulders "I ordered Chinese".

Seeing their very short conversation already over Alex got up to go to the kitchen but was stopped by wolf's question.

"You look familiar, do I know you?"

Alex froze (he couldn't lose the game so early on) but quickly thought of something.

He shrug his shoulders casually "my dad worked with mi6 you may have seen him. They say I look a lot like him." Alex nodded slightly once, so slightly, that hardly anyone noticed.

That wasn't a lie-Alex never lied, it was the one thing he didn't do. Half truths: yes, manipulation: ok, but never lying.

"What's your dads name?"

Alex only paused for a moment before answering "sorry can't tell you. All information about him is classified"

still not a lie. He nodded twice.

Wolf nodded in acceptance and Alex released a breath he didn't know he had been holding.

The one thing Alex had sworn to never do was lie. He subtly nodded once to remind himself that it was half a lie and nodded twice to assure himself it was the truth. Thankfully Alex was trained into the the arts of sublility and no one ever realised what he was doing. Unless of course, they knew what there looking for, but what did people care as long as they weren't being lied to. The one move he would never make in this game. It might be the move that ended up killing him, but it was the one move that Alex refused to do. Lying:the most necessary aspect of the espionage game.

But Alex was stubborn and found it amusing to see how far he can go defying the rules of the game.

Dinner came and went in silence and Alex spent the rest of the evening doing homework for tomorrow.

Right before Alex went to sleep, he took the tablets for insomnia, the last one in the packet (he would have to remember to get some tomorrow) they were the only tablets he ever allowed himself to take.

Simply because he didn't want to have nightmares. Pain he could handle, it kept him grounded, but nightmares were just something else completely.


	3. Chapter 3

That morning Alex woke up gasping, finding it very hard to take in oxygen. The tablets did help his nightmares but didn't stop them entirely. The tablets were like a heavy weight pressing down on his dreams, but the stronger the dreams the harder it is to push against and the effort it took left him out of breath (like this morning) and on some unlucky nights, some dreams managed to slip through.

Alex checked the time 6:30am. He was supposed to be waking up in half an hour anyway so no point going back to sleep. He decided to have an extra long shower instead before going to school.

School. Alex mentally groaned. He was attending the brookland year 11 courtesy of mi6 who still wanted him to get an education to be able to be legally classified as an agent but school had become literally unbearable ever since Tom left to go live with Jerry after year 10. And thanks to mi6 who never found a cure for his 'weak immune system', Alex never had a chance to actually restore his friendships. Yes life at school was great.

Realising wolf was still asleep, Alex quietly had a shower, ate his breakfast then made his way to school.

Wolf woke up around midday to the sound of his rumbling stomach. He was up until past midnight last night working on some paper work that he was required to do while on leave, and missed his morning run. Whose great idea was it to have soldiers doing paperwork. Paperwork was meant for spies and other SO people. Speaking of SO wolf wondered were his knew charge was. Remembering the kid had school, wolf settled down with his coffee infront of the TV. He couldn't figure out who the kid looked like, and it was getting frustrating. He should probably call snake since he had photographic memory and will probably recognise who the kid looked like. But wolf didn't know how he was supposed to explain this situation to his team mate who would probably find it laughable. Sighing, wolf decided to risk it.

As wolf reached for his phone it rang. Seeing the call as Unknown, he opened it with a sense of trepidation.

"Hello is this mr Luca"

"Yes"

"I am calling from the Royal and General bank regarding your ward."

Wolfs stomach dropped.

"We would like you to pick him up after school and come straight away so we can discuss opening up a bank account for him"

Knowing he had no choice, wolf voiced his acceptance then hung up.

When the line went dead, he sighed. This was not what he wanted to do on a Monday.

Wolf dialled snakes number than waited for him to pick up.

"Snake"

"Hey wolf, what can I do for you?"

"What? can't I call just to ask what your up to?"

Wolf heard snake snort. "We both know that's not the case. So what's up?"

"Well a situation has come up"

"What kind of situation" snake asked instantly on guard.

"Mi6 has asked me for a favour"

"What kind of favour?" Suspicion evident in every letter.

Seeing he was just trying to delay the inevitable, wolf decided to come right out and say it.

"They asked me to look after a 16 year old"

Silence was held for 2 seconds before snake burst out laughing.

"Are they serious? Have they lost their minds?" Snake managed after bringing himself under control.

"You can't even take care of a plant let alone a teenager"

"Haha very funny" wolf shot back.

"No seriously what were they thinking?"

Wolf sighed. "Honestly no clue. They told me to do it and ask no questions"

A pause before

"So what do you need from me?"

"Well the kid looks strangely familiar and I was wondering if you could recognise who he looks like"

"Why don't you ask him?"

"He said that his dad was an agent so we probably met his dad"

"Whose his dad?"

"Says classified cause he's an agent. And if I knew then why would I be calling you" wolf snapped feeing irritated

"Okay, okay calm down. when can I come round and meet him"

"Well mi6 have requested our presence after he finished school so around 6?"

"Ok. Btw I'm bringing Eagle?

Wolf groaned. "Why? Just why?"

"Because I know how much you love him"

Wolf glared one of his infamous glares but seeing that snake was protected by the phone he hung up.

Great now he had to pick up a kid, go to mi6 and spend time with eagle. What a wonderful day(!)

Alex exited the school building with a sigh. He just didn't understand what was the point of going to school anymore. The teachers pretended he didn't exist, the students either made sure to stay clear of him or went out of their way to make his life hell. Why in the world did blunt want him to go to school? Alex would never willingly become a spy. The only reason he ever did this was because he was forced to. It would be a lot easier if blunt just cut the whole school crap and force Alex into becoming an official spy. No need to complicate things and make Alex's life harder. Only that seems to be the only thing Blunt liked to do.

"Hey rider!" Someone shouted.

Alex looked up to see the school bully Derek marching towards him with the whole gang. Others began to get closer to see what was happening, obviously hoping for a fight.

"Yes" Alex replied allowing his irritation to show. "What can I do for you?"

Derek stopped about a meter and a half infront of Alex.

"Well rider" he began with a smirk "me and a couple of guys wanted to know how long do you think you will be able to run before the police catch you and put you in jail for being a druggie."

Alex sighed running a hand through his hair. "I'm not a druggie"

Everyone around him snorted.

"Yh right" Derek said "when will you next disappear, would it be tomorrow? today? now? Are your druggie friends waiting for you so you can go and collect some drugs. You're pathetic rider."

Alex tried to keep his anger under control, reminding himself that he was 20 times the guy Derek was and has saved his arse more times than he could count. But it's only so much that a 16 year old can take.

"Your the one whose pathetic" Alex retorted " can't you get it inside your thick skull what I've been saying for the past year. I. Am. Not. A. Druggie." He said each word separately like he was taking to a toddler, and allowed himself to some happiness at the sight of Derek starting to lose his already very short temper.

"Oh your going to get it rider"

Alex watched as Derek raised his hand to punch Alex and Alex couldn't help but mentally correct the guys stance and technique.

Alex saw the fist coming towards his face and only side stepped in the last second.

Seeing it too late to stop, Derek hit air, lost his balance and stumbled, but managed to catch himself right before he fell. This did not help his anger, and neither did the laugh that went through the audience.

He aimed another punch at Alex, then a kick, then another punch, but Alex side stepped every time.

Alex sighed for like the 50th time that day. Derek wasn't going to stop until he managed to land a hit. So Alex, being the 'bigger person' allowed Derek to land one punch on the side of Alex's face where he knew it would bruise but not hurt that much.

Derek laughed and tried to go in for another hit. Alex knew that Derek wouldn't stop so he caught the incoming first with his right hand and spun the bully around, so he had his arm behind his back. Alex then leaned in close to Derek's ear and said in a quiet voice that no doubt everybody else heard.

"I am not a druggie, and I would really appreciate it if you stopped trying to hit me"

Alex then released Derek and walked away, relieved that it was over. But his relief was short lived when he saw none other than his beloved 'guardian' standing next to a car with his arm crossed.

Alex groaned. No doubt he had seen the whole exchange. But at that moment Alex only wondered why the hell wolf was here. Didn't he say yesterday that he expected Alex to make his own way to and from school.

"Mr Luca?" Alex asked when he was within hearing distance. He had to remind himself not to say wolf.

Wolf showed no sign of hearing Alex and got into the car. The message was obvious. 'Get in the car'

So Alex, with a sense of trepidation, got into the car and buckled his seatbelt.

Wolf turned the car engine on, and they stayed in silence for a few moments, until the tension become suffocatingly unbearable so Alex was forced to break it.

"So mr Luca" the name felt unnatural on Alex's tongue. "What a lovely surprise. Though I am wondering why you decided to pick me up today, when you made it perfectly clear that I was supposed to make my own way." Alex loved this way of speaking. It allowed him to mock others while still sounding polite. Something that Ian had taught him.

Wolf kept his eye on the road but thankfully he answered. "Mi6 called and wanted to see us"

Alex felt his stomach drop, and he let out a groan.

"Why?" He asked.

"They wanted to talk about opening a bank account for you" his voice was sarcastic and Alex didn't even try to repress his snort.

"I've always wanted to open a bank account with them" Alex replied with equal amount of sarcasm.

Wolf didn't look at Alex but he smiled. It was a small smile but a smile nonetheless. And that small gesture broke the tension in the car.

And though the silence was still there, it was not unbearable.


	4. Chapter 4

Wolf pulled up outside the Royal and general bank after spending the ride in companionable silence, something which Alex never ever imagined he would ever experience with the man who hated his guts when at Brecon Beacons, but then again the situation was completely different.

Together they exited the car and walked up to the 'bank'. Alex made sure to avoid an area on the pavement which seemed cleaner than all the others.

They entered and made their way to the reception but were stopped by Mrs Jones.

"Mr Luca, Alex." She exclaimed.

They stopped simultaneously and made towards her.

"Glad you could come. Now if you could follow me."

They followed her silently up the stairs. If wolf wondered why they didn't take the lift, he didn't ask.

They made their way up and entered mr blunts room without knocking, obviously because blunt was expecting them.

Mrs Jones sat in her usual seat and Alex and wolf sat in the other two.

Mr blunt seemed to be reading a file of some sort and did nothing to acknowledge their presence.

That was fine with Alex. Following his 'superiors' lead, Alex took out his phone, turned the volume up and began playing flappy bird.

The sound of the game blasted through the silence which led to Jones sending him a warning look and wolf a surprised look. But blunt showed nothing. Of course he didn't.

They remained in this situation until blunt put down his papers and cleared his throat, to signal that he was ready for the meeting.

Alex's lips curled up to a smirk knowing that he had won but decided to rub salt into the wound.

He carried on playing and made sure the sound was loud enough to hear when the bird died. Then purposefully raised his eyes to meet blunts for a full second before pressing the play button.

For those who didn't know bBunt would say that the man was indifferent to what had happened. Only Mrs Jones could tell that her superior was positively fuming and a vein was pulsing on the side of his forehead. She wished Alex would just stop playing these silly games with Blunt but she had no place in this matter. This was a one-on-one game between Alex and blunt.

She almost felt sorry for Mr Luca who was some place in utter disbelief. But that's what this meeting was about right? For Alan to show mr Luca that Alex had 'behaviour problems'. Blunt wanted an obedient weapon not... Alex. And so he decided to do so by getting a soldier to stamp out the disobedience. And the fact that the soldier hated Alex's guts was a bonus. Of course blunt knew that wolf would not recognise Alex at first. Of course he knew that he would ask snake. Of course he knew that before finding out, Alex and wolf would develop a relationship that was a bit above mutual. Of course he knew that this would only exacerbate wolfs anger later on. Now all wolf had to know was that Alex had 'problems'. Tulip knew that Alan was playing a dirty game, but he had been playing this game for 2 years, and if it was dirty at the start then now it was down right rotten.

She was taken out of her thought by Alex's pocketing his phone and she mentally let out a sigh of relief. Last time Alex had continued playing that damn game for 15 minutes. Using her exceptional deducting skills, mrs Jones knew that Alex only stopped because he didn't want wolf to stay here longer than he already had too. That meant that Alan's plan was already working. If Mrs Jones was a sarcastic person she would have probably thought great(!). Thankfully she was not.

Alex pocketed his phone and knotted his arms on his lap, signalling to blunt that _he_ was ready.

"I'm glad you came mr Luca"

Alex snorted. _How immature,_ blunt had resorted to  
style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Italic'; font-style: italic; font-size: 17pt;"ignoring Alex. Wasn't that what 7 year olds did when they fell out.

Blunt turned to Alex and after reading Alex's thoughts added "and you too Alex. It's been a long time."

Alex muttered "Not long enough." Then smiled politely "As much as I would love to stay here and exchange pleasantries, We would greatly appreciate it if you just spat out whatever is in your mouth then let us be on our way."

Wolf snapped his head to Alex in shock. But still remained silent. Wise choice. This was not a battle for his level.

Blunt worked his jaw but before he could reply Mrs Jones spoke. "Alex we just wanted to know how your first day with your new guardian was going"

All eyes snapped to hers. She could see some concealed surprise in Alex's eyes. Probably at her courage or maybe stupidity for trying to intervene between the two.

"Oh really" Alex drawled. "Because I was under the impression that you wanted to open a bank account for me." His voice turned polite and serious "I wanted to apologise and say that I would rather open up one at Barclays instead because for some strange reason I find their bank is more safe and considerably more trustworthy. I'm sorry for wasting your time"

Alex made his way to get up, and everyone watched him walk to the door. They watched him twist the Handle and-

"Sit down Alex" snapped mr blunt.

For those who could see it, which was no one in the room, Alex had a very smug look on his face and hovered momentarily at the door before schooling his expression into politeness and turning around to sit down.

"If you are that desperate to have me open a bank account with you, then please go ahead convince me that I should. However I recommend that you don't waste your time with me, seeing I am just an insignificant teenager. There are much more rich people who would be better for you to invest your time in , I'm sure."

Blunt stared at Alex trying to figure out a way to just make him stop. Sadly 'cut the crap' was not in Blunts dictionary so he had to find a more formal way of saying so. Thankfully Mrs Jones saved him.

"Actually Alex, we wanted to talk about your guardianship"

"My guardianship?" Alex asked, eyes widening innocently and voice too high to be believable. "I'm sure my guardian said that it was about opening a bank account. I may have misheard."

Mrs Jones ignored him. "We wanted to know how you are settling in with your new guardian after the last 4 guardians failed."

Alex narrowed his eyes mockingly "why do you want to ask about my guardianship. You're a bank right? Not social services"

Mrs Jones sighed feeling her temper slipping, though blunt remained stoic. How long would that last she was not sure.

"Alex please stop this. Just answer the question and you can go."

Alex folded his arms defensively "I don't want to answer some personal questions from strangers. My parents always taught me never to talk to strangers. Because it will put you in danger."

Mrs Jones took in a deep breath. "Alex this is your final warning. How are you settling in?"

"What are you going to do to me if I don't tell you?"

"Alex" Mrs Jones warned

He folded his arms defensively, completely ignoring her "this is not what you talk about when you go to a bank. I won't Answer"

"Alex" her voice was now hinting on desperation.

"I mean I was expecting to talk about my bank account though that is clearly not the case"

"Alex!" Mrs Jones snapped. "If you don't answer the question then you will find yourself on another m-" Mrs Jones clamped a hand on her mouth and her eyes widened in shock.

The effect of that one incomplete statement on Alex was startling. Alex had instantly gone tense, shoulders squared, and was staring at the wall in between blunt and Jones. His face a blank slate, devoid of any emotion, any feeling. Nothing of the dry humorous boy he was moments ago.

"Alex I'm so sorry" Mrs Jones breathed.

He ignored her, choosing to remain motionless.

"Alex-"

"Maybe I should open a bank account with Santander instead"

That voice was so cold and completely devoid of any emotion. A voice that shouldn't even belong to a human.

"Alex" Mrs Jones said again, voice barely more than a whisper, and was that pleading in her tone?

"Mrs Jones that is enough." Blunt intervened "How about we ask our other guest."

Only two pairs of eyes moved towards wolf, who shifted uncomfortably at the sudden attention.

"How is Alex settling in?" Blunt asked.

"He's" wolf coughed to clear his throat. "He's doing good. Though its only been one day." Wolf prided himself on his ability to remain professional in such a situation.

"I understand" Mrs Jones said, trying to regain her composure. Alex, only Alex, was able to get her to show this much emotion. "do you believe there will be any complications"

Wolf shook his head "no. I believe that we will get along well, for the time he is under my care" the words sounded strange in his mouth.

Mrs Jones nodded feeling disappointment at the pit of her stomach. Of course Alan's plan would work. It always did. "Thank you for coming today and we will be in contact with you soon."

Both wolf and Alex stood up simultaneously noting the dismissal, and made their way to the door.

"Alex stay behind" blunt said.

Alex pointedly ignored him and walked out, followed by a bewildered wolf.

"That went well" Alex muttered as soon as they exited the office.

That was when wolf exploded.

"What the hell was that kid?"

"Umm I-"

"YOU"

Both Alex and wolf spun round to see a man supporting a bruised jaw and hand in a cast.

"You're the kid.!" The man exclaimed. He then called over his shoulder " Hey Jeremy come look. I told you it was a kid that did this"

His voice was loud and beginning to attract attention.

A couple of people stopped and stared, many of them having either a bruised face or a cast. Or both.

"Mr Luca I think we should go" Alex stated trying to lead the way out.

Wolf followed robotically.

"Hey kid I'm not done with you. Come back here"

The mi6 agent tried to catch up with them

"Mr Luca I advise that we run"

Together wolf and Alex ran away from a bunch of angry agents.

"GET HIM. GET THAT KID"

And that's how Alex started a man hunt.

Or in this case a kid hunt. For the third time that week.

Together wolf and Alex ran down the stairs, into the car and drove off just in time.

They spent the entire drive home in silence each looking over their shoulder incase of pesuers.

They reached the house and exited cautiously. The silence however was broken as soon as they entered the house when Alex made to escape into his bedroom.

"Kid come here right now. You have a lot of explaining to do"

Alex stopped midstep and followed wolf into the living room, knowing that this conversation was not one he wanted to have after dealing with blunt.

Wolf went to make himself some coffee and Alex sat on the sofa, knowing that any escape would only be delaying the inevitable.

Wolf made his coffee hoping that it would stop the pounding headache he was having. He was about to walk into the living room when his phone rang.

"Hello wolf"

"Snake" he completely forgot about that. Now he had to deal with eagle.

"I'm sorry but I can't come today, my wife wants to go" snake paused and let out a shuddering breath "shopping. Ughh. And she says that I'm spending too much time with my friends when I'm supposed to be on leave. Women! She wants to spend the next couple of days with me and says if I spend any time with my unit ,then we're going to separate. Can you imagine that? Women and their stubbornness."

Wolf felt a weight lift off his shoulders.

"Need I remind you that she is your wife and you married her because you loved her" wolf mocked.

"You are not helping at all" if Wolf could see snake then he would have been subjected to intensive glaring.

"So that means that you can't come today"

"Or for the next couple of days, unless I want my marriage to end"

Wolf snorted.

"That's fine. Good luck"

"Thanks I'm going to need it"

Wolf hung up and went into the living room.

Alex watched wolf sit on his armchair and with a great sense of trepidation on both parts, the conversation began.

"So kid. You wanna explain what happened?"

"Which part?"

"All of it!"

"Your going to have to be more specific"

Wolf sighed. He didn't like how this conversation was turning out

"How about I ask you questions and you answer them?"

Alex paused. He couldn't lie.

"Ok" he didn't have to answer them fully. One nod.

"What's up with you and blunt?"

This was rocky ground.

"We don't have a working relationship" two nods.

Wolf snorted. "Can you expand?"

"I don't like him" two nods. Probably three.

"Why?"

"Because he's lost a few brain cells" two nods.

"He's the head of military intelligence"

"Your point is"

Wolf looked at Alex with an amused appreciation.

"I think I like you kid."

"Your opinion is appreciated" sarcasm doesn't require nods.

"I mean it."

Alex shrugged. "I am amused by seeing how thin blunts patience can stretch." Two nods.

"How do you do it?"

"How do I do what?"

"How do you get the two most lifeless people to snap?"

"It's a natural gift" one nod.

" what annoying people?"

Alex's smile was feral.

"No, doing the impossible" two nods.

Wolf let out a laugh.

"You're an interesting kid"

"So I've been told"

"With an unlimited supply of sarcasm"

"I know"

"And your egotistic"

"It's kind of hard not to be when your me"

Wolf snorted.

"If your head gets any bigger, we're going to have an eclipse"

Alex flipped his head seductively "your just jealous"

Wolf snorted. "Why haven't they gotten rid of you yet?"

Alex stared "what kill me?"

Wolf looked horrified for a moment "no, I mean why do they still deal with you, why don't they let social services or something deal with you?"

Alex looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Well my dad's an agent" not a lie, one nod.

"There's got to be something more"

"I got involved with some of my dads business that mi6 didn't want me to" one nod, still not a lie. Scorpia was his dad's business. "and they are worried that I will spill classified stuff if they send me to social services" one nod, still not a lie.

Wolf nodded his head in understanding. He did not question further knowing about the whole 'classified' business.

"Okay another question, why did we get involved in a man-hunt?"

Alex laughed. This was easy ground

"Well some agents were angry at me and decided to chase us." Two nods.

"Why were they angry with you?"

"A couple of them were supposed to bring me in yesterday and I didn't want to" two nods

"So what happened?"

"I tried to run away from them" two nods

"You ran away from trained mi6 agents"

"Yes"

"Then what happened?"

"They surrounded me"two nods

"Wait how many were they?"

"Yesterday?"

"Yes"

"24 active and 6 in hiding"

" _they sent 30 agents after one kid_!"

"I'm pretty hard to catch" two nods

"How come most of them were bruised?"

"When they surrounded me I could just give up"

"Go on"

"I was forced to engage in combat"

"You went head to head with 24 agents"

"When you put it like that it makes me sound like some superhero"

"Dammit kid, if you held your own against 24 agents then you might as well be a superhero"

"And they wonder why I'm egotistical"

Wolf looked at Alex appraisingly "I'm starting to understand"

"So you fought against the agents..."

"I managed to knock 16 unconscious and accidentally break 3 bones of others before one of the hidden agents tranquillised me"

"So your saying that _24 trained agents_ couldn't capture o  
style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Italic'; font-style: italic; font-size: 17pt;"ne kidwithout knocking him unconscious"

"I told you, I like to do the impossible"

Wolf snorted and they lapsed into silence.

"I have another question" wolf said in a serious tone.

Alex looked up and saw concern etched into wolfs eyes, something which he never expected from the soldier at Brecon Beacons.

"About what?"

"School"

"What about school?" Alex said cautiously. How much had wolf seen?

Wolf pointed to Alex's face which had no doubt started to bruise.

"Are you being bullied in school?"

Alex paused. To bully meant to _use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force them to do something._

Alex snorted. _superior strength. intimidate. force._ Yh right.

"No I'm not being bullied" not a lie, but he couldn't do two nods. Only one nod.

Wolf nodded unconvinced but didn't persue the subject, noting the reluctance in Alex's voice.

Feeling the conversation was over, Alex got up.

"one more question. The guy called you rider." Alex froze. This was dangerous ground.

"You wouldn't happen to be the son of Ian rider."

Alex almost smiled in relief. The question was so easy to answer. Wolf obviously had no experience with asking the correct questions.

"No Ian rider is not my father." He didn't lie. He didn't put on a confused look. He didn't give any indication on not knowing Ian rider. But neither did he give any indication of knowing Ian. No smile, no recognition. The answer was simple, direct, said with no emotion, nothing which could give him away.

"So you don't know who Ian rider is"

Alex smiled, even though he was half facing half not facing wolf. His eyes went unfocused as he drifted into another land. The first sign wolf got that Alex was not completely there.

This question was the one Alex had been asking himself since he found out about mi6. Who was his uncle really ? Who was the man who raised him? Did he even know who the true Ian was? Was it the man who left it alone? The man who trained him? Or was he the man who cared for him? Who taught him?

"No I don't know who Ian rider was"

Alex then walked out, nodding twice.

Wolf watched the kid leave wondering just who he had been asked to take care of. He couldn't deny that the kid was fun to talk to. But then he suddenly gets the calculating look where you are sure you've crossed some sort of line by asking the wrong question. But he doesn't refuse to answer. He answers properly. And from wolfs training in reading other people, nothing of what the kid said was a lie. He answered every single question, and he answered them truthfully.

Sure it was strange that the kid and blunt had the relationship they had. Wolf would never have imagined the head of mi6 taking this much interest in a kid. Surely, even if the kid had seen something classified, it won't be so important, that the head of military intelligence had to deal with it. Surely there are more important matters for the heads to deal with than a 16 year old kid.

Sure it was strange that the kid managed to immobilise 19 trained agents. Sure it was strange for a kid to be the reason for a man-hunt.

But to wolf nothing was as strange as the last thing the kid said.

 _'I don't know who Ian rider was'_

Wolf had gone in for back up twice for that man. The man was different from all the other agents. For one he was friendly and wolf had instantly taken a liking to him. And now that he though about it the kid and Ian looked strangely alike. But the kid said that Ian is not his father and he  
style="font-family: '.SFUIText-Italic'; font-style: italic; font-size: 17pt;"didn't know who Ian was-Wait. The kid said 'was'. Did that mean that Ian was dead. But how would the kid know if he didn't know the man.

And not only that but the way the kid said it. With eyes cloudy and voice wistful. He was sure that the kid knew Ian. But he said it with such conviction, wolf knew the kid wasn't lying. But the kid looked so strange and fragile in that moment, like one wrong move and he could shatter into a thousand pieces, that wolf didn't want to question him any further.


	5. Chapter 5

That night wolf woke up to the sound of movement within the house. Instantly alert, he reached for his gun on the bedside table but remained in his position.

He heard the sound of stumbling and was relieved to find out that it was either the kid or a very unprofessional criminal. He loosened his hold on the gun as he heard the bathroom door open and close. It was just the kid.

Wolf was about to go to sleep when he heard the sound of retching. Was the kid ok?

Wolf evaluated his options. He could either go back to sleep.

Or get up and see how the kid was doing.

Though the first one seemed more appealing, wolf knew that it would probably be best if he did the latter.

So with a great sense of moral pride, wolf got up, out of his comfy bed and knocked on the bathroom door.

"Kid you ok in there?"

There was a pause and then

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Ok I'm just going to get you a cup of water" wolf didn't know were the suggestion came from but it felt right.

"No you don't have to"

"Kid you're vomiting. "

"I know"

But wolf didn't hear him. Instead he got a cup of water from the kitchen.

He then knocked on the bathroom door again, and entered.

Inside he saw the kid sitting on the floor with his elbows on his knees and back against the wall. He had his hair covering his eyes but when wolf walked in he looked up.

And for as long as wolf lived he would never ever forget the haunted look on the kids face, nor the horror reflected in his eyes, and the complete and utter defeat in the boy's slumped shoulders. This was not something that was seen on a kid. This was  
something seen on the most scarred of war veterans.

"Are you ok?" Wolf asked after the kid had drank the water.

The kid nodded. "Thanks"

Wolf not knowing what else today, left the bathroom and went back to his room.

He did not fall asleep until he heard the kid go back into his own room.

The next morning, wolf woke up at 6:30am to go for his morning run and heard the sound of the kid taking a shower.

Wolf got up, and decided to see the kid off before going on his run.

When the kid walked in to the kitchen dressed in his school uniform, wolf was a bit surprised at how normal the kid looked. No sign of what happened during the night present on his face. Wolf wasn't sure what he was expecting but this wasn't it. Nonetheless,  
he greeted the kid with a good-morning and watched him have breakfast. Searching for any sign of the person who he saw in the bathroom yesterday, but there was none. Respecting the boy's privacy, wolf did not ask questions, but as he watched the kid  
leave, the sight of that person in the bathroom, did not leave his mind.

Wolf was coming back home from shopping when he decided to phone fox.

Because fox had studied phycology at uni before joining the SAS, and wanted to find out if the kid was having a serious situation if he woke up vomiting.

"Hey wolf" came the never ending enthusiasm from fox. "What a nice surprise?"

"Hi fox."

"I was wondering if I could ask you about something"

"Something" fox repeated. "Sounds serious" he mocked.

"I am serious" wolf snapped, feeling his nostrils flair.

"Listen I'm around your neighbourhood, and wanted to pop by anyway, we can talk then"

"Thanks."

"I'll see you in around 5 minutes"

True to his word, five minutes later, wolf answered the door to a grinning fox.

"Come in"

Fox followed wolf into the kitchen.

"Coffee or tea"

"tea"

Wolf raised on eyebrow "still the British"

Fox raised his eyebrow mimicking "still the American"

"So you've gone through the pleasantries and even gone as far as made me a drink, so that must mean there is something serious. What happened?" Fox's tone was joking as he took a long sip of his drink

"Well actually, I've been asked to look after a 16 year old kid"

"WHAT?!" Fox exclaimed. "You were asked to take care of a kid? You can't even look after a plant"

Wolf glared at fox but it was only half-hearted.

"I've been told"

"So what is it you wanted to ask me. How to feed him? How often? I'm not to sure I can help with that"

"If you just stopped talking I would tell you" snapped wolf.

Silence.

"Well since you've studied psychology I wanted to get your input on something"

"Go ahead"

"Well last night the kid had a nightmare"

Thankfully fox didn't say anything but he frowned

"And he woke up vomiting"

Fox's frown deepened

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I heard him and went to get him some water"

"You actually got out of bed to get a kid some water" fox said in disbelief.

Wolf gave him a look that clearly said _it is not the time for this_

Thankfully fox understood. "How old did you say he was?"

"16"

Fox didn't say anything for a while so wolf decided to fill the silence.

"I know kids have nightmares but not once have I seen one wake up vomiting. I was wondering if that was something important"

"Well the truth is that people who wake up vomiting either have experienced a vivid flashback, or their dreams are strongly influenced by something traumatic that has happened to them. But you say he's 16. Kids don't experience that kind of level of trauma"

They were silent for a moment.

"This kid is different. I don't know how to explain it, but he is not like any other kid. They way he acts, the way he speaks, it's not like a kid his age."

"What do you mean?"

"Sure he's sarcastic like a kid, and his head is the size of planet Jupiter, but contrary to any other teenagers, I actually feel he is justified in his big headedness."

"How so?"

"Well yesterday we were involved in this man hunt and it was because the kid had agents-"

"Wait! Manhunt?! Agents?! Who the hell is this kid?"

"Didn't I tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Mi6 were the ones who asked me to look after him"

Fox's face recoiled at the mention of those- his couple of months with them were apparently more than enough, and any mention of them could send him on a rampage.

"What were they thinking? Asking you to look after a kid?"

"Last time I checked we already went through my inability to look after kids"

Fox nodded "so man-hunt, agents..."

"Apparently the kid was supposed to be brought in a couple of days ago, but after his refusal, they tried to use force, and most of them got beaten up by the kid"

Fox whistled appraisingly. "That must be some kid. So I'm guessing that you got chased by the agents whose pride was punctured by a kid"

Wolf nodded "yep"

"So basically, you're looking after a kid, on mi6s orders"

"Yeah basically"

Silence for a moment.

"I have a strange urge to want to do something about his nightmares."

Fox put a hand on his friends shoulder.

"Wolf, my good and old friend, your are experience the feelings of a parent."

Wolf glared one of his infamous glares and watched smugly as fox winced.

"Easy on the glaring. I was just joking.

I don't think you should rush into things so quickly. It may just be a one time thing, you never know. If it happens again, you should probably ask him about it, see if he's spoken to anyone about his dreams."

Wolf nodded "thanks fox"

Wolf then looked at the time. "The kid finished school about 10 minutes ago, he should be here in about 5 minutes, you could stay, if you want to meet him."

"Thanks, I'm strangely curious about your little ward, I mean after telling me he was involved in a man-hunt."

Wolf snorted "you mean the centre and sole purpose of it"

Suddenly the door knocked.

"I'll get it" wolf grumbled, seeing that his guest made no sign of moving, instead choosing to grin.

Wolf opened the door to the kid and was surprised to see a bruise on his face. Then realising that it was the same one as yesterday, just a shade darker, he relaxed. Then he tensed, wondering why he had gotten so worked up in the first place. It was just  
a bruise.

"Afternoon" Alex said, feeling glad that the school day was over. But then he remembered that he had to work on his 'act' with wolf and held back a groan at the mental effort he was going to have to put in.

"Afternoon" wolf replied, making way for him to come in.

Alex was about to go upstairs when wolf stopped him.

"Actually, one of my friends are here and they want to meet you"

"Lead the way" alex said and followed wolf to the kitchen. On their way, Alex decided to run commentary.

"You know, mr Luca, I'm actually surprised you have friends"

"Just shut up" wolf growled.

Alex chuckled as they entered the kitchen, and his thoughts stumbled as he caught sight of the familiar figure, but he composed himself.

Sadly Ben had also recognised Alex, but managed to recover his shock, before wolf turned around to face them.

Alex held out a hand, using his words to try and convey his message.

"Hello sir, my name is Alex, and I am the unfortunate ward of your very fortunate friend."

Both men chocked.

Fox shook Alex's hand. "Ben" he said "nice to meet you"

He then turned to wolf.

"I see what you mean by egotistical."

"Oh so mr Luca has been speaking about me. Did he mention my handsome looks and dazzling smile?" Alex said, winking at Ben, who was trying his hardest to hold back his laugh, instead choosing to smile.

"I'm sorry to break it to you" fox said, enjoying the banter "but my friend doesn't swing that way"

Wolf chocked again, but fox only watched as Alex's expression turned from cheeky to horrified, to friendly"

"I'm sorry to hear that" Alex said. "because a couple of people at school saw him yesterday and couldn't help admiring his muscles."

Wolf chocked a third time, but fox only smiled appraisingly. "Well played Alex."

"Oh no" wolf groaned. "I'm going to go through hell?"

Both other occupants turned to smile at wolf.

"You know you truly love us James, deep down in your heart" fox said.

"And besides" Alex added "it's always heaven when you're in my presence"

"Kid I swear you are going to block out the sun one day with that huge head of yours. You're a danger hazard. What ever you touch will be destroyed"

Wolf watched, as Alex's face suddenly twitched and he felt the atmosphere in the room change from easy going, to something much more sinister.

Wolf watched in frozen silence as Alex face twitched again" before he smiled and all tension dissolved.

"I bet you would love to see s giant version of my head. Everyone would. And as much as I hate to break it to you, you will no longer be able to gaze upon my godly face, as I must retire to my chambers and do ones homework for the next day of school."

Alex then bowed to them "good day, gentlemen" and then he left.

Ben could hardly keep the shock at learning that the kid wolf was taking care of was Alex. As in like the Alex from dragon nine, the snakehead mission. The mission Ben went on which made him realise that spying was not for him. He could never work for  
Devils that use kids to do their dirty work.

But he could see it now. Asking wolf to take care of Alex was true devils work. But from what Ben could tell, wolf hadn't recognised Alex's as cub, so what was mi6 up to.

Seeing that the silence was held for too long after Alex left, Ben decided to speak,

"I see what you mean by sarcastic and egotistical. I think you actually understated him"

Wolf nodded "so you see what I mean.

Was it just me or did you see a moment when he just blanked out"

"Yeah, his face was, what was it, twitching right? Almost like he was trying to stop himself from showing emotion"

"I told you the kid was strange"

Alex walked into his room and collapsed onto his bed. For some reason, he was feeling exhausted. He didn't usually feel exhausted, maybe it's because he hadn't done enough exercise in a while. He should probably do exercise.

He was glad that they had teacher strike tomorrow so he didn't have to face school, and now that he thought about it, he should probably have told wolf.

Alex heard the front door open and close, and made his way down to wolf.

"I think I like Ben."

Wolf turned to Alex "I think he liked you too. Sadly."

Alex smiled devishly, and was surprised at the effort he used to give that smile. He was more exhausted than he thought.

He turned around to go back to his room.

"I don't have school tomorrow" he threwover his shoulder as he left


	6. Chapter 6

Wolf woke the next day at 5 to the sound of his alarm telling him that he had to go for his morning run. It was always best to go in the mornings, and besides, wolf was hooked to the adrenaline rush after running, and it always helped start the day positively.

Wolf quickly changed, and was about to go to the kitchen to get a bottle of water when he froze outside the sitting room door.

There was the kid, sitting on the couch, surrounded by shadows of the early morning light. He was holding a mug on his lap, and his eyes were staring at the tele, which was off. No the kid wasn't staring at the tv, he was more of... It looked as if he was far away, his eyes glazed over.

Wolf stood their stunned, watching his temporary ward. The kid didn't even seem to notice that wolf was standing there.

Wolf cleared his throat, and watched, in fascination, as the kid snapped, suddenly alert, and he turned to face wolf. But there was no surprise, no embarrassment at being caught.

"Um.. I'm going for a run. Would you like to join me?"

Wolf didn't know were the suggestion came from but it felt natural.

The kid took a while to answer, and wolf scolded himself. The kid was a teenager, of course he didn't want to go for a run. But then wolf reminded himself that Alex was like no other kid.

And so he waited for the kid, watching as they kids face-wait did the kids face just twitch?

If wolf didn't know any better, he would have said that the kid was going through a battle.

But the look was gone as as fast as it had come and the kid looked up with relief.

And he nodded.

So wolf waited for the kid to change his clothes before they set out on a run.

Alex breathed in the cold morning air and he fought very hard to hold back his smile.

He loved the Autumn mornings, were it was cold, but not obsessively so, and the sun had barely risen, so it gave an almost sacreligal essence to the atmosphere. And because the sun hadn't risen, nobody was out. It felt as if he had the whole world under his control. And yes it was a childish feeling, but Alex loved control, and the more he lost it to the- the more he wanted it. So he clung to these metaphorical feelings, and used them to keep him grounded.

They jogged round the neighbourhood, slowly speeding up, and Alex cherished every moment of it. Every time his foot connected with the ground, he felt himself grounded, used the strength and the stability of the earth to hold him.

Every breath he took, burst inside him with freshness, and it felt like life, over and over again.

The rhythm of his feet, the pounding of his blood, the whispers of the wind, they kept him moving, a reaffirmation of life, of glory of the pain and beauty in breathing.

Up and up the music around him built, shattering the hollow silence that surrounded him, roaring through his veins, through his very essence, reminding him of what he was, and what he struggled to keep.

He didn't notice the dampness of his cheeks, nor the blurriness of his vision, not when he was being reminded of what he once was, of what he could never be.

Wolf had started of at a slow pace, thinking that it was an appropriate pace for the kid, but he started speeding up when the kid showed no signs of exhaustion.

The kid said nothing about the pace change, adjusting when needed, he seemed to be lost in thought.

The kid never slowed down, never showed signs of heavy breathing, even when they had ran for 10 minutes, even when wolf was pushing himself to his very max, the kid just kept up, the kid did not go faster nor slower than wolf, and it was slightly unnerving how the kid always ran perfectly in time with him. But it was also concerning seeing as wolf was a 27 year old soldier, trained by the SAS, the British elite, and the kid was just a... Well a kid.

But then wolf remembered that the kid managed to outrun 30 SO agents, so he shouldn't have been surprised, but maybe the reality of the story hadn't seemed real until now.

Wolf slowed down to a jog and then to a walk as they neared the house.

He unlocked the door and held it for the kid, as the kid past, wolf could have been sure that the his cheeks were wet, but before he could confirm anything, the kid and sped past him and into the house.

"Dibs on shower first" the kid shouted as he ran up the stairs.

Wolf, in his daze, took a moment to realise

"Hey come back here!"

But it was already too late.

After they had both showered, they sat in the kitchen eating their cereal.

"Don't you know how to cook?"

The bluntness of the question took wolf by surprise, and honestly, he didn't think his heart could handle any more surprises from the kid.

"What?!"

"I mean no offence, but since I've gotten here, all you've had is cereal and take out."

"You should be grateful I'm taking care of you" wolf snapped

Alex looked up from his bowl startled "I didn't mean it in that way, I was just curious"

Wolf looked at Alex suspiciously "I can cook, I just choose not too"

"Why?"

"Because it's boring and I can't stand cooking anything that takes more than 10 minutes, why you asking?

She was like that too wasn't she. She used to laugh when he asked and say 10 minutes is longer than enough. He used to offer his assistance and she would stare at him like he had grown three heads. She would then shake her head, smiling. He would ask her what? And she would smile and say nothing. That was until-

Stop it Alex stop thinking about her.

She was his sister and his best friend and-

Stop thinking about her!

She was-

Stop thinking about her!

Stop thinking about who?

That's better. Well done.

"Alex you ok?"

"I wanted to offer to cook today's meal"

"What?"

"You asked why I was asking?"

"Kid that was like a minute ago, you seemed to space out"

Alex looked up at wolf confused "are you sure?"

Wolf looked at Alex skeptically, "are you ok?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" The way he said it, so sure so confident.

"Are you sure?"

Alex nodded. But he only nodded once.

Suddenly wolfs phone rang and he went to pick it up, he did however miss the sudden tension that struck the other occupant of the room.

"Hello"

"Hi wolf. Snake speaking."

"What can I do for you?"

"Well, my wife has finally let me go, so I can come round this afternoon"

Wolf had completely forgot about his earlier mission to recognise the kids father.

"Yh sure that would be great"

"I'm bringing fox and eagle"

Wolf groaned and hung up "my friends are coming round today."

Alex snapped his head "is it Ben?"

If wolf was surprised, he didn't show it

"Um yh and a couple of other people"

At around 10, Alex told wolf that he was going grocery shopping. Wolf just nodded.

He left the shop and was on his way to wolfs house when he heard someone calling his name.

"Alex"

Alex turned around and his eyes widened as he saw Tom Harris _._

 _Tom who was supposed to be in Italy. Tom who had left him, Tom who had-_

 _Forget it Alex._

 _It's forgotten._

Alex turned around and began walking away when suddenly someone tapped him from behind.

"Alex mate, it's good to see you"

"I'm sorry" Alex said, who the hell was this guy, and how did he know his name "you must have mistaken me for someone else."

"Alex it's me Tom, are you ok?"

 _Tom_?

 _You don't know any Tom._

"Me and Sabina came to visit and we wanted to catch up with you, but your phone number had changed.

"Sabina?"

"Yes Alex, Sabina. Are you sure you're ok, this isn't like last time?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know who you are." And with that Alex left a very bewildered stranger.

Tom decided to follow Alex, feeling dread settle in the pit of his stomach. It was happening again, and Alex couldn't be alone when it happened.

Tom, however, was so lost in the past that he lost Alex.

He had to find Alex again, whatever it took, this would not happen again.


	7. Chapter 7

When the kid returned home, wolf noticed that he looked slightly pale, but before he could ask, the kid spoke.

"Are your friends staying for lunch?"

Wolf thought about it. Snake would probably be too kind and refuse but fox and Eagle were like wild animals, and would probably keep snake with them.

"Yh, probably"

The kid nodded and set about making the food. Wolf watched, mesmerised by how the kid worked, his hands moving across the counter with confidence and accuracy.

"How do you do it?" The question escaped wolf before he could stop it.

The kid didn't look up nor stop

"Do what?"

"I mean how did you learn how to cook Who taught you?"

The kid didn't answer straight away, instead he went into what wolf had come to associate with his own world, were the kid blanks out and somehow doesn't realise it. Wolf had to speak to fox about that.

The question hit Alex by surprise. How did he learn how to cook?

 _Alex was 6 and realised that Ian had left again on one of his business trips, but this time he left no one to look after Alex._

 _He came back home from school and couldn't stop the rumbling in his stomach, but when he opened the fridge he couldn't find anything to eat. So Alex took the spare house keys, some money from his piggy bank and went to the grocery shop. He bought food that Ian had taught him he needed to make the basic meal, and so Alex set on his tiny little legs to find the food.-_

Alex stop thinking about it

 _The cashier lady looked at him strangely and when she asked him were his parents were he answered that they were watching him from behi-_

Alex stop thinking about that.-

 _Alex was young and didn't understand what would happen if he told them that he was alone but he knew that he shouldn't._

 _Alex got home and started cutting up the vegetables to make soup, he turned on the cooler like Ian had taught him and prepared his meal like Ian had taught him. He even prepared an extra meal incase Ian came home-_

Alex forget about him.

 _But Ian didn't come home, and he didn't come home any time that week, so Alex, still alone, began experimenting with his food, mixing different ingredients to see what would happen._

 _Alex realised that this was probably one of Ian's tests to see if Alex could cope alone, so Alex tried his best to keep the house clean to make the food perfect, to wash the dishes. He didn't spend any more time on the tv than he did with Ian, and he didn't go any where that Ian wouldn't let him because Alex knew that Ian was watching him, to see if he would make a mistake.-_

Alex forget about Ian, forget about what he did.

 _When Ian came back home a few days later-_

Forget about him _._

 _Alex ran up to Ian, to hug him and tell him of what a good boy he had been-_

Forget about Ian

 _He didn't see that Ian's hand was in a cast nor did he see the horror in Ian's eyes when he realised that he had left his 6 year old nephew at home alone for over a week-_

Forget about him once and for all!

 _I have forgotten about him._

Alex realised that wolf had been talking to him.

"Alex?"

"I don't remember who taught me."

And it was the truth, because for some reason Alex couldn't remember who he learned from.

"Kid look at me"

Alex stopped mixing to look at wolf with confusion.

"Are you ok?" Wolf said slowly.

Alex was getting confused.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Kid every time I talk to you, you zone out for minutes, and then when you finally connect back to reality, you carry on the conversation that even I can't remember."

"I zoned out?" Alex asked in disbelief.

"Yh you just did right now. And you can't even remember"

"Are you sure?"

"Yh, your eyes go all cloudy and you stare into nothingness."

Dread settled in Alex's stomach. It was happening again.

Suddenly the bell rang.

Alex froze.

T _hey were coming again, coming to tell him that Ian rider is dead._

 _No it was mi6 telling him that he had another mission._

 _No it was scorpia coming to assassinate him._

 _No it was Jack coming back from shopping_

 _No it was Tom asking to play a game of footie._

 _No it was Sabina coming for dinner._

 _No it was the journalist._

 _It was ash coming for revenge._

 _It was julius grief._

 _It was sarov._

 _It was-_

"Kid- Alex look at me, are you ok?" Wolf said.

Alex didn't realise he was following wolf to the door.

"I don't think I should stay here" Alex said. His eyes darting around the hall way trying to find an escape.

 _They were coming for him, they were all coming back for their revenge on Alex who had murdered them._

"Kid look at me." Wolf repeated his hand reaching to open the door.

"Wolf I shouldn't be here, I should go"

Wolf snapped his head around as he opened the door.

"What did you call me?"

Alex looked up , inhaling sharply. He just made a mistake.

 _A mistake could get you killed._

"I-"

The door opened and in walked snake.

His eyes landed on alex.

"Cub" snake exclaimed, his eyes going wide.

Wolfs head whipped between the kid and snake.

"Cub?" Wolf repeated.

"Cub?" Came a joyous sing from behind snake.

And behind him a groan could be heard from fox.


	8. Chapter 8

Suddenly eagle came barging and stopped when he saw Alex.

"Cub, oh my god, it's great to see you, but what in the world are you doing here with wolf. Wait are you the kid wolf is taking care of, that's so cool. How come wolf didn't tell us he was taking care of you. wait. If wolf is taking care of you then that must mean you are not an adult" eagle turned to snake without pausing for breath " didn't you say that wolf was taking care of a 16 year old."

He turned back to Alex " cub that means you are 16, wait if you are 16 then that means you must have been fourteen when you came to Brecon Beacons. Cub how the hell did you survive when you were fourteen, how the hell did you keep up with us if you were a child, wait what the hell were you doing brecon in the first place if you were fourteen, why did your parents let you go, wait hold on a sec, if wolf is your guardian then what happened to your parents?"

Eagle paused for a second.

"Is that chillie I smell?"

Silence.

The tension in the atmosphere was so heavy, that no one in there right mind would dare to break it.

Sadly there was one person in the hall way who was not in their right mind.

"Yh eagle I made chillie" came Alex's reply, completely disregarding everything else that came out of his mouth.

"Sweet" eagle said and bounded into the living room.

Alex followed him not wanting to look at wolf, and he felt everyone else come in afterwards.

Everyone sat down except for wolf who seemed to be in a state of shock.

Alex didn't dare look at wolf, the relationship that they had built the past few days had shattered by this one fact.

"Wolf sit down" snake said.

Wolf obeyed.

Eagle couldn't keep his mouth shut. "Wolf how the hell did you end up with cub?"

Wolf didn't answer straight away.

"Mi6 told me they had a kid who they wanted someone to look after"

Alex couldn't look at any of them in the eye. This was not how he wanted wolf to find out. God dammit wolf wasn't supposed to find out.

Eagle turned to Alex, excitement bubbling in his eyes "cub what the hell are you doing with mi6"

"They are my guardians" Alex answered.

 _After his parents, and Ian, he was at mi6s beck and call_ -

"What happened to your parents?"

"They are dead"

 _Killed by his godfather, out of spite because of blunt-_

Guilty silence fell in the room as the SAS soldiers realised there mistake for bullying a fourteen year old about his dead parents.

"Cub we're sorry" snake said.

"It's fine you didn't know" and that was the truth.

Alex looked up to find 4 pairs of eyes staring at him but he was only searching for one.

He met wolfs gaze and passed a silent question.

Wolf nodded a fraction of an inch and Alex exhaled a breath he didn't know he had been holding.

Wolf was ok with him.

Alex stared wondering why he cared so much. He had learned that he shouldn't get close to people because they get killed

 _Jack-_

That was why he cut ties with Tom and Sabina after he had hurt them

But they are back-

"Cub are you ok?" Snake asked

Alex didn't answer, memories started to overwhelm him, his eyes started darting from side to side looking for an escape. But he was trapped.

Fox put a hand on his shoulder.

Alex shot back into his seat but managed to catch himself before hitting fox.

Alex then stood up "I'll go get lunch."


	9. Chapter 9

Alex was about to get up with Ben put a hand on his shoulder, to keep him sitting.

"Alex-cub, are you ok?"

Such a difficult question to answer without lying isn't it, 'are you ok?' he wasn't ok, not by any means of the word ok.

He realised that everyone was staring at him.

Was this what wolf meant when he said zoning out?

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Ben searched Alex's eyes for any sign of him not being alright, but found nothing, strange?

"No reason."

A moment of silence.

"I must admit" Alex said, getting up to leave " that it is a privilege few people have to spend time with me, but I must part with you, my old acquaintances as dinner will likely burn " Alex walked out of the room, leaving behind four, stunned men.

As soon as Alex left, the rest turned to wolf, who seemed to be lost in the sea of confusion.

He held up a hand to stop the oncoming questions,

"Don't ask anything please, I didn't know he was cub, I don't know why I'm being asked to look after him, I didn't know his parents were dead, I don't know what just happened to him. Mi6 told me to look after a 16 year old and I did."

Silence.

"Lunch is ready darlings" came a High pitched voice from the dinning room.

Eagle practically ran out of the room followed by fox then snake and lastly wolf.

By the time they sat down, eagle had already began eating,

"This is amazing " he managed between mouthfuls, "where did you learn to cook like this?"

"I can't remember"

"It's amazing"

"I know"

Snake, who had just started eating, chocked on his food.

"A bit big headed, aren't we cub?"

"Honesty is the best quality" Alex replied smoothly."

"Well" came wolf's icy voice, "you wouldn't mind answering some of our questions"

Silence, even eagle stopped eating.

When wolf, their unit leader, spoke like this, it meant that someone was to die.

"Actually, if you're asking, I would mind, but not that it's going to stop you from asking"

"Damn right" said snake.

Alex sighed defeated, he hated being interrogated, the truth was so hard to tell, and for some reason his head always seemed to nod, just to show how honest he was: one nod: half truth, two nods: full truth.

"fine them, shoot."

"What are you doing with wolf?" Snake asked.

"It was all down to the gracious hands of mi6" Alex replied, smirking, oh he was going to try to enjoy answering as little as possible.

"We know that."

"Then why are you asking?"

"Why did mi6 put you with wolf?"

"Because blunt has a few screws loose"

Eagle snorted, but snake was unperturbed.

"Why did mi6 put you with wolf? Why wolf?"

"I don't know why wolf, specifically" one nod, it could have been any of k-unit. " I've been around different guardians the past few months." Two nods.

"Why mi6?"

"Don't we all ask that question?"

"I mean what have you got to do with mi6? And no sarcasm."

"But I love sarcasm, it's the foundation of my existence, the base of my life, the-"

"We get the idea, just answer the question."

Alex took a moment to string his answer together. He had already told wolf a story and he had to stick with it.

"My dad was an mi6 agent" he began slowly, two nods, " I saw some stuff that I weren't meant to see" two nods. Those two facts were not directly related, and they weren't said with any connection. If k-unit chose to connect them, then so be it.

"My parents died" another fact, two nods, they didn't need to know the order of the facts.

"I needed a guardian, but because of what I had seen, mi6 couldn't risk social services" two nods, "so I had to go to special people"

"That makes sense" snake said.

"Well of course it does." Alex refused to look at Ben, to see what he was thinking and could only hope that he does not tell them of his 'job'.

" don't you have any relatives that could take you in?" Snake asked.

"None alive that I know off"

"Godfather?"

 _The idiot who killed his_ _parents, that pressed the button which_  
style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"-

Don't think about him.

 _The traitor_ _who sold him out to major yu_  
style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"-

Forget him.

 _The lying_ -

Forget!

 _Forgotten_.

"Cub?"

Alex stood up sharply.

"I don't have a godfather"

"Cub are you ok?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Was all he said before he walked out of the room.

K-unit eyed each other wearily. Snake had a feeling he just witnessed something important, but the problem was he didn't know what.

"Did you guys see that?" Asked eagle.

"The way he just blanked for like a whole minute."

Wolf nodded, "it's been happening a couple of times lately, I wanted to ask you about it" he said gesturing to fox. "I ask or say something, sometimes he would answer without hesitance, usually a sarcastic remark, but sometimes he would just blank out, sometimes for seconds, other times for minutes. His eyes go cloudy and unfocused like just now, and he would be unresponsive, Like I would call his name and he wouldn't hear. You know you have crossed some kind of line.

But the even stranger think is, when he zones back in, it's as if nothing happened, he carried on the conversation. It's frustrating and worrying to say the least. I asked him about it this morning and he just looked at me strangely. "

Fox took a moment to answer. "I've never heard of anything like it before. It's strange, I'll have to ask around. Has there been any pattern to the zoning out?"

"I thought about that and tried to see the connection, but I came up with nothing. Like for example, this morning it happened when I said I don't like cooking, and then it happened when I asked who taught him how to cook. The obvious connection was cooking, but seriously? Cooking? And then it happened now when you asked about his godfather, but it didn't happen when you asked about his parents."

Fox drew his eyebrows together in consideration. "When was the first time you saw this happen?"

Wolf thought about it.

"It was right after the man-hunt when I was asking him for questions."

Wolf was thankful that he had already told them all about it, or else this conversation would have been way longer.

"What was the question you asked?"

Wolf thought.

"I asked him if he knew who Ian rider is"

"What has Ian rider got to do with this?" Snake asked.

"Yh his surname is Rider."

Then wolf looked to fox. "Any ideas?"

"None"

They all lapsed into silence.

And then-

"What about his story?" Eagle asked.

"What about it?" Snake said.

"Well it doesn't seem right?"

"It made perfect sense to me?"

"That's it, isn't it? It made perfect sense. It wasn't supposed too."

For all of eagles immatureness and childishness, he was able to pick out things that everybody else looked over. It's what made him a good soldier.

"That doesn't make any sense" wolf argued.

"Don't you see?" Eagle began. "He didn't tell you he was cub because he didn't want you to find out and ask questions. Did you know about his parents before? Did you know that he had "seen something he wasn't supposed to? No of course not, because he didn't want you to know. And now when you find out he just gives as a story which completely makes sense and holds nothing which explains why he didn't tell it to wolf in the first place."

He was met with blank stares.

"Honestly you guys are hopeless" he said throwing his hands in the air.

"So what you're saying" snake said, "is that he lied to us?"

"No he didn't lie, it's clear that he did not utter a single untruth, but he didn't even tell us an eighth of the whole story."

A smile spread across wolfs face. "You know what that means don't you?"

His grin was infected by his other team mates.

"No mystery is too great, no secret is too small, for we must devote our very being to uncover the truth from those who deny it"

The words spilt from eagles mouth and they all winced at the clicheness of the words. Once when they were drunk, and, they couldn't actually remember what had happened, but they had woken up with those words embedded in their minds, and since have stuck by them.

Snake rubbed his hands together like some evil mastermind.

"Cub is in for a real treat".


	10. Chapter 10

Alex woke with a gasp.

He really hated those tablets. Sometimes they would last until the morning, other times he would just last half way through the night. Sadly this was one of those nights. He rolled over to checked the time.

3:02am and He smiled at the irony.

Knowing that any further sleep was impossible, he got up.

And realised he was soaking with sweat.

That must have been some nightmare he was trying to avoid, and he thanked whatever force that he managed to avoid it.

Alex decided to take a bath.

Yes at 3 am.

Yes in wolf house.

But he didn't care. He was going to drown in his sweat.

So Alex collected some clean pyjamas and a towel and went to the bathroom.

When he finished from the bath and began to wear his clothes, he realised that he had forgotten his shirt.

Cursing for whatever reason, he opened the door and almost bumped into a very grumpy looking wolf.

"What the hell do you think you're doing taking a bath at 4 am in the morning.!?"

"It's actually 3am"

"That's beside the point. You-"

Wolf cut himself off as his eyes took in Alex's chest and widened comically.

Alex, realising what had just happened closed the door of the bathroom in haste but it was stopped by wolfs leg before closing.

Wolf attempted to push the door open but Alex refused.

"Cub open the door."

"It's already open" Alex said innocently.

"Cub get out."

"But I'm half naked" he whined mockingly.

"Cub open the door or God so help me I will-"

"Why do you want me to get out"

"Cub" wolf said in a barely controlled tone. "I want you to get out so you could explain to me why you have a _god damn bullet wound right over your heart_  
style="font-family: '.SFUIText'; font-size: 17pt;"!"

His rage broke out on the last few words and he forced the door open sending Alex flying backwards.

Wolf entered the bathroom to see a cub sprawled on the floor and he raised one eyebrow.

"What?" Alex said indignantly, "can't a man lay down half naked in a bathroom without being judged?"

Wolf was about to reply with a comment but the words disappeared when he finally took in the whole expanse of Alex's front.

He saw not only the bullet scar which drawed all his attention at first, sitting right on top of the throne that was his heart, but all the other marks which littered Alex's front like a painting.

Scars which spoke of torture and pain and oppression.

Scars which should not be known to a child let alone present on one.

He had no words to say because there was nothing he could say.

"When you're finally done staring at me would you be a kind gentleman and help me up so I may go and put on a shirt."

Wolf, still lost in thought, subconsciously helped Alex up and watched him leave.

Alex put on his shirt with a sigh. This was not going to end well. He had about 4 hours before he needed to get to school, and he wondered how long wolf was going to keep talking.

He walked back out of the room and saw wolf leaning on the wall in the hallway. Alex went to lean on the wall apposite him but slightly to the right, and put his hands in his pockets.

"So what do you want to know now?"

"I'm not sure I want to anymore"

"Well that's great and all. I'm going to get going."

"Wait"

"What?"

"Why were you taking a bath at three am?"

Alex didn't answer.

"Does it have anything to do with these?" Wolf said and showed him his insomnia tablets.

Alex was too professional to show any surprise, or to deny their existence.

"How did you find them?"

"You left your room door open and I caught a glimpse of them."

Alex suddenly sighed feeling all the energy leave him.

"Yh, I'm insomniac."

"You didn't say?"

"It wasn't your business."

"Does it have anything to do with your scars?"

Alex nodded.

Wolfs head started going through a number of possibilities and he settles on one that made sense. Those marks. They were marks of torture.

"Where you-"

He stopped himself. Did he have the right to know?

Of course he did, he was Cubs guardian.

"Where you-"

He stopped himself again.

Did he want to know?

Cub smiled. It was a strange smile. The kind of smile you gave when you were being nostalgic.

"Whatever you're going to say, think it through, make sure the wording is correct, leave no room for loop holes. If you ask the question incorrectly, then let me warn you, you will not get the answer you were looking for."

Wolf didn't say anything.

"You don't have to ask. The answers is yes, yes I was."

"How do you even know what I was going to ask?"

"Don't underestimate me"

"I'm not"

"Wait" wolf said, for Alex started walking down the stairs.

"I'm going for a run, care to join me?" He threw over his shoulders.

5 minutes later found both wolf and cub running around the neighbourhood. It was one of those odd warm nights in Autumn and Alex was glad he had the chance to cherish it.

"Where did you learn to run like this?" Wolf asked.

"I went to Brecon Beacons, don't you remember?"

"Yh but your endurance wasn't this high."

"I've improved" he said shortly. And that ended the conversation.

That afternoon, as Alex was coming out of school, he heard two girls next to him talking.

"Sarah just send me a text." One of them was saying, "She said Tom Harris is outside with a girl"

"Tom?" The other said, "as in last year Tom, with a girl"

That was as much as Alex heard before he was sucked into his whirlwind on memories.

He stood there standing, remembering and forgetting instantly.

He knew who the girl was.

No he didn't.

Her name was-

He didn't know her.

Suddenly Alex burst into a sprint and was outside within moments.

He saw them there, both of them, the last two people alive who meant more than the whole world to him.

His breath hitched on the world alive. They are alive for a reason, because they left.

 _They left._

You forced them.

 _I didn't want them too_.

It was to keep them alive.

 _I know._

He took two steps forward and suddenly there he was, in front of him. The boy who was his best friend for as long as he could remember. Who stood by him when the whole class went against him.

Tom.

"Alex, it's me Tom. Me and Sabina are here to see you."

Tom was here.

"Alex please look at me"

Tom was here.

"Alex it me Sabina and Tom. We came to see how you were doing.

Sabina was here too.

Sabina looked at Tom. She used her eyes to convey the dread settling in her stomach.

 _He's going to break._

Whenever Alex became like this, mute, his eyes darting from side to side, not focusing on anything but at the same time at everything, taking everything in, but not everything. It hurt to see him like this. The same way it hurt for a parent to see their child in pain, because it was in times like this, when Alex looked more like a child, than anything else.

"Alex come with us" Tom was saying, "we've missed you"

But Alex showed no sign of hearing, he seemed to be in the small gap between shock and disbelief, and he was falling, falling, needing someone to catch him before it was too late, the only problem was, nobody knew how far down he was or how to save him.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are"

Sabina stifled a gasp but she couldn't stop her eyes from widening, Tom had told her, had told her that Alex might be going back, but she didn't believe him, didn't want to believe him.

"Alex" she whispered.

"I'm sorry I need to go." And he began to walk away from them, walk away with eyes that held no recognition.

Sabina wanted to tell him to stop. To come back, but she knew. She knew that one wrong move and he could shatter, shatter like glass, because of the fragile life he lived. So Sabina watched him walk away, watched him walk away without doing anything.

"We need to follow him" Tom whispered from beside her.

"What?"

"He's not living alone, he's living with someone else, and he might" Tom swallowed, "whatever happened last time will happen again, and whoever is living with him, they won't know what to do, they won't be safe."

Sabina nodded, and she looked towards were Alex was, but he wasn't there.

"We've lost him" Tom said, "again"


	11. Chapter 11

Wolf was not having a good day. It started with waking up at 3am and now this. He had just been blackmailed into going to the park with snake eagle and fox.

It was all part of their plan to "uncover the mystery known as cub" but heaven knows why the park. The universe hated him.

So when cub came back home, wolf told him. He expected some sarcastic remark, but the kid seemed lost in though and only nodded.

10 minutes later saw them walking to their nearby park.

Alex looked at wolf slyly.

"Why are we going to a park?"

Wolf grumbled something incoherently

"What was that?"

"I said eagle forced me"

"Eagle!" Alex laughed, "how did he force you?"

"I prefer not to say."

"He blackmailed you!" Alex exclaimed. "What with?"

"How did you even know he blackmailed me?"

Alex tapped the side of his nose. "The cub knows all."

"Isn't it supposed to be the owl?"

"Whatever, so what did he blackmail you with?"

"If I told you, what would be the point of going now?"

"Fair point. So why are you even going? Don't you soldiers have stuff to do?"

"Were on leave"

"Why?"

"Because eagle has to go and get himself shot on our last mission."

Alex winced.

"Don't worry, it was only a flesh wound."

"Again, why the park?"

"When you're bored out of your wits, even the park becomes interesting."

"You guys are bored? Shouldn't you be like enjoying your break."

Wolf was about to answer but was saved by eagle.

"CUB. WOLF." Came a loud voice from the park up ahead.

Both wolf and cub groaned simultaneously. They looked at each other in surprise, then quickly away.

"YOU MADE IT. Now we can eat"

Wolf mumbled something along the lines of 'typical' and then followed eagle to where he had set the picnic.

"Never in my life" Alex said, "did I ever dare to imagine that one day I would be sitting in a park, having a picnic, with four elite British SAS soldiers. Never" cub shook his head in disbelief, and missed the glares sent to him by snake and wolf.

"It was all eagles and foxs fault. They forced us to" snake said.

Eagle ignored this comment. "We were wondering-" eagle began, but was cut off by snakes pointed cough, "I was wondering" he amended, "if you would tell me more about yourself, since we're going to be spending a lot of time together."

Alex sighed inwardly, he knew there was a catch, there always is a catch.

"Well I am 16, I go to brookland comprehensive, I am the best of the best, I don't like broccoli without salt, and I don't like ducks. Anything else you want to know."

"Dude, how can you not like ducks?" Eagle exclaimed.

Alex looked eagle square in the eye, "don't dude me, I don't like ducks, never have, never will, end of story."

Eagle was about to respond but was cut off by snake, "anywayyyy..., we were hoping we could get to know each other, you know, as friends.

 _Friends?_

Alex you can't.

 _Friends?_

There is a reason you cut ties with Tom and Sabina.

 _But they're back?_

And you are going to send them away. Don't be selfish Alex, you know you can't have friends, they will get hurt.

 _But they are soldiers._

Soldiers who don't understand what they they are going to be up against if you allow them to get close, so stop being selfish, and damn yourself, for you have no other choice.

"...Cub, are you all right?"

"No"

"What?"

"No I don't want to get to know you"

"That does it!" Wolf shouted, hitting the ground with his fist.

Alex looked at wolf startled.

"What?"

"You are going to explain to us what is wrong with you"

"Hey! That's offensive!"

"I don't care. It's happened enough times to make it a point of concern, and I want to know right now what is causing it."

"Causing what?"

"You zoning out, completely out of the conversation, and then coming back in like everything is normal." Wolf paused for breath. "Haven't we already had this conversation?" He said.

"We did?" If wolf didn't know any better, he would say cub truly was confused

Wolf sighed and buried his face in his hands.

"Please explain what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing is-"

Alex drew in a sharp breath, almost as if he had been punched. He felt if in his bones, in his muscles, in his blood.

He felt it,:the lie.

He wouldn't lie. He couldn't lie.

So what was wrong with him?

 _If wolf was right about what was happening then that meant-_

That means nothing, wolf is delusional.

 _But what happened last time with Tom and Sabina-_

Nothing happened.

 _There is something wrong with me._

No there isn't.

 _There is._

There isn't.

 _There is._

"Cub?"

"There's something wrong with me." The words escaped his lips before he could stop them. They were said in barely more than a whisper, but holding truth so raw, it hurt.

"What is it Alex?" Ben said, knowing, from experience, that Alex in this state of mind, would have no control over his words, and would say the first thing that came to his mind:The truth with no filtration.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I... I..." Suddenly cub's eyes cleared, became focused again.

"There's nothing wrong with me." He said with shoulder's set, and chin lifted, almost like he just won a battle.

Every member of k-unit felt surprise at the unexpected disappointment. They knew they were on the verge of a breakthrough with cub, but lost it.

Suddenly cub stood up, "I'm going for a walk"

And k unit watched him leave.

"That's the strangest kid I've ever met" snake said, summing up all their thoughts concisely.

"Any theories" he asked, looking towards fox and eagle.

"I believe" eagle said slowly, piecing his thoughts together, " that our little cub is bipolar."

"What?" Wolf exclaimed.

Eagle nodded gravely. "His sarcastic, egotistical self, is one, and that" he gestured to Cubs vacated seat, "is the other."

Fox looked thoughtful. "It's almost as if his two personalities are in conflict."

Fox snapped his fingers. "I got it, it makes sense. You have one sarcastic cub, and the other one, which we've only heard 1 sentence from. When they come into conflict about something, he zones out. You ask a question, and his two sides go to war. I'm guessing that his sarcastic self wins all the time. But something happened this time, something different, which gave lee way to his other half. But it wasn't enough, and his sarcastic self dominated his whole."

"It's scary" eagle commented.

"What is?"

"His other half. Did you see his eyes in those moments? They were haunted, desperate, caged"

They nodded, but before any of them could respond, cub popped back in.

"Hey guys, can we go?"

"why" eagle said, "we only just got here."

"There are these two people here, who stopped me, and stared looking at me in this weird way, like they knew me, and it's creeping me out."

Wolf took the opportunity when he saw it, "then we should go straight away"

"I agree" snake said.

"Well it looks like it's two against three" wolf said. "Majority wins. We're leaving."


	12. Chapter 12

They were on their way back when it happened.

They were walking back when Alex stopped suddenly, his instincts flaring up in alarm.

"And I was wondering- hey cub why did you stop?" Eagle asked.

Alex started moving strangely, from side to side then backwards and forwards.

"Cub are you-"

"Eagle, wolf, snake, fox you see those 4 bins to your left" Alex said, not halting his strange movements, and began to reach behind his back.

"Yes why-" snake asked

"When I tell you to go, I want you to run."

"Cub are you oka-" fox asked.

"GO NOW"

It must have been something in his voice because they all took off running.

And their was a sudden gunshot as they dived for the bins.

Looking back, eagle saw Alex whip out a gun and shoot upwards without even looking.

His attention was focused on his surroundings.

Suddenly, Out of nowhere 3 men came pulling out guns, but they were all shot dead before they could do much harm.

And right in the centre of this bloodbath, stood a teenage boy, who threw his gun down and took off a plastic glove that nobody knew he was wearing.

Alex dusted of his hands and walked away.

"Wolf, eagle, snake and fox, you can come out now."

Slowly they came out. The action was over so quickly that none of them were able to help. Not that it looked like Alex needed any help.

"I don't want you to ask me any questions, just follow me."

The four men followed the teenage boy in silence between streets.

They would have spoken or questioned why they were following the teenager, if it wasn't for he fact that the boy held himself with something greater than they had ever seen, and he practically forced the silence onto them.

And suddenly they found themselves outside the Royal and General bank.

They entered in silence and walked to the stairs but were stopped by security.

"I'm sorry but you can't go up without an appointment."

"It's ok Miles" Alex said, "they should be expecting me"

The security, Miles, must have just recognised the teenage boy because his body language and facial expression completely changed.

"I'm sorry sir. You can go."

"I wasn't asking for your permission Miles, and for the hundredth time, stop calling me sir, I'm like half your age."

A smirk spread across miles' face,

"Yes sir, sorry sir."

Alex sighed in exasperation and muttered 'hopeless' then made his way up.

They walked past offices and people but nobody else stopped them.

Alex them barged into one of the offices and the SAS men followed, though reluctantly.

"Alex" Mrs Jones sighed, without looking up from the paper she was reading, "how many times do I have to tell you to knock before you enter. It's called manners and respect."

"Oh well, thank you, I'll keep and eye out for someone who deserves them."

The SAS men turned to Alex with various expressions of astonishment, but Mrs Jones just sighed.

"So what can we do for you Alex" Mrs Jones said.

"Well, it's more of what you haven't done Mrs Jones. "I'm sure you've already heard of what happened down in allington crescent."

"Yes Alex, the file just came in, mr blunt and I were just looking over it"

Alex's eyes barely flicked to the other occupant of the room who seemed to act as if he were not here.

"Yes and could you explain what happened."

"Well there was a lapse in security." Mrs Jones began.

"Actually Mrs Jones, I was wondering if mr blunt could answer this , since the police would be wondering why blunts fingerprints were found on the only gun which was used on the street."

Mrs Jones' and the SAS men's eyes widened at this new piece of information, but Alex only looked at mr blunt who had frozen in his position, with a rare look of surprise on his face.

"Alex" Mrs Jones said, "that is impossi-"

But she was cut off by the phone ringing.

"I think you will find that there is no such thing as impossible Mrs Jones." He said with a wink.

He turned to blunt. "Now go answer the phone like a good little boy and explain to the police why your naughty fingerprints were on the gun."

Blunt moved his jaw but in the end said nothing.

Instead he picked up the phone and left the office to answer it, leaving four stubbed men, one exasperated women, and one very smug teenager.

"Really Alex, is it necessary for you to do something like this every time."

"Mrs Jones, it brings me great pleasure in knowing that you are beginning to expect me doing something, but even greater pleasure in seeing the surprise on your faces. It reminds you to expect the unexpected."

"Why Alex? Why every time you do something?"

"I like to keep military intelligence on its toes."

"It's not your place to keep military intelligence on its toes!"

"You're right, it's not, but it is your place to make sure that I'm safe 24/7, so could you explain what happened?"

Mrs Jones sighed, this was Alex, able to jump from one topic to another before others realise, "their was a lapse in security"

"No your kidding me" sarcasm dripping from every word, "I would never have guessed.

So And what are you going to be doing about it."

Mrs Jones mentally sighed. She hated it when Alex spoke to her like this, like a child being scolded, but she was forever grateful that he didn't treat her as he treated blunt.

"We are having it fixed at the moment. Alex I have a few questions for you."

"I'd love to hear them(!)"

Mrs Jones ignored the sarcasm. "We saw the video footage of what happened moments before the attack, and I must say, I was quite surprised."

"Obviously. Your point is..."

"I wanted to know what was it you were doing?"

Alex smiled smugly. "That's my newest move, I call it the psychic leg dance, it has 300 defence points, though the attack point is very low. "

"And what is it?"

Alex's smile widened. "It's made to work against the attacker. You see, when I sensed the sniper, I started moving in this pattern, which would take a highly skilled assassin, 8.5 seconds to work out, aim for the right spot and shoot. Enough time to warn my fellow acquaintances. It also meant I knew exactly were the sniper would hit and when. All I had to do was change the pattern in the 8th second, and bam, I'm alive."

Mrs Jones was stumped. "Alex I... That's amazing. Their is nothing else for it, it's pure genius."

"I know. But don't act so surprised, it's me after all."

Mrs Jones huffed a laugh. "I don't even know why I bother sometimes"

"Me too, Tulip, me too. Now if I could just make a suggestion.?"

"Go ahead"

"Well you probably already wondered why I bought with me 4 SAS men, but since they are on leave and seemed to be bored beyond their wits, that they go to the park for fun, they could be assigned with keeping me protected."

Mrs Jones paused to consider it. Her mind already analysing the pros and cons. Finally she came to a conclusion.

"Can I trust you to sort out the situation with them."

Alex nodded.

"Then I agree. But under two conditions"

"And what are those?"

"First, all information classified remains classified."

"Wasn't going to change that. And the second?."

"Have mercy on them."

Alex's grin turned maniacal.

"My, my, Mrs Jones, you've come to know me very well."

At that Alex got up.

Mrs Jones didn't miss the fact that he didn't agree to the second condition, nor the fact that he had suggested the situation or the fact that he had concluded the conversation.

Not for the first time did she wonder when Alex had gotten the control over their meetings.

"See you soon Alex." She said by way of farewell.

"I should hope not." He threw over his shoulder with a wink, as he walked out followed by the four men who hadn't uttered a single word.

As soon as the door shut behind them, wolf stopped Alex.

"Cub. Stop. I have put up with your weirdness for too long now. You zoning out, your ability to get yourself and us into strange situations. The way you speak with the heads of special operations, the way you felt with those attackers. But I won't put up with it any longer. Your simple stories of your dad being an mi6 agent is not enough to explain all that has happened. I want an explanation and I want a proper one."

Alex mentally sighed. He should have been expecting this.

"As soon as we get to-"

"No I want an explanation right now!"

"But that's ridiculous we're in the middle of the hallway."

"I don't care. I want and explanation and I want it now."

Alex sighed loudly.

"Fine then follow me."

Alex led them to his office which was his uncles before, and apparently used to be his fathers before that.

He reached to open the door but fox stopped him.

"You can't just go into a random office."

"I know, this is my dads office." Alex mentally winced at the misuse of the word 'is' instead of 'was'.

"Wait isn't your dad dead?"

"Yes"

"Then..."

"It's also my uncles office."

Eagle was about to ask a question but wolf stopped him.

"Don't even bother asking. Just get inside."

Alex grinned at him. "You're getting it"

They entered the office.

Wolf didn't know what he expected to see, but a completely empty and deserted office was not one of them.

"It's empty" snake stated.

Cub snorted. "Obvious much" he muttered as he flipped the name tag on the table.

Wolf honestly did not know what to think anymore. His whole entire world had turned upside down, leaving him thinking up was down and down was up. It was confusing enough to be asked by SO to look after a kid. Then seeing the kid get bullied. Then the first time with blunt and Jones, then the zoning out, and the nightmares, and waking up at night.

When he found out that the kid was truly cub, wolf was ready to commit suicide. And then finding out that cub is bipolar, then the assassination attempt, then mr blunt showing emotion, and Mrs Jones being rendered speechless by the kid's pure genius. Was all this supposed to be explained by the fact that the kid's dad was a mi6 agent?

"Is your uncle also a spy?"

"Yes eagle" Alex replied, "I would assume that's why he has an office"

"But it's very empty, are you sure this is your uncles office"

"Yes eagle I'm sure"

"Then where is he"

A ghost smile passed over Alex's lips. "He's not here at the moment"

"He's on a mission?"

"You could say that."

Wolf interrupted before eagle could ask anymore questions.

"Would you mind explaining what the hell is going on?"

"What is going on?"

"Don't play dumb with me" wolf snarled. "You know exactly what we want and you will give us it."

A moment of silence.- and then.

"Classified" the word tasted bitter on Alex's tongue, hated how it made him sound, whose side it put him on, but sometimes, there was no choice.

Wolf swore. "I want none of that bull, give me a proper answer."

Alex thought for a moment.

"Ok"

"What?" Wolf said, completely throw of guard.

"I said ok."

"Go on"

Alex looked up to the corner of the room were a camera was hidden. He then winked at it before speaking the forbidden words.

"I'm an agent"

The silence was held for two seconds before eagle burst out laughing. "Yh right, and I'm the queen of England."

"It's true" fox said.

All heads whipped to him.

"How do you know?"

Fox sighed and looked towards Alex for permission, but only got a blank face in return.

"Do you remember my last mission with mi6?"

"The one which was the reason why you went on a rampage every time somebody mentioned mi6"

"Yep that's the one. You remember the kid I told you, who was posing as the son of one of the Asis agents."

"Yh"

"Well it was cub"

"No way!"

"I swear"

Eagle turned to Alex. "That's so cool, you're like a mini-James bond, only you like help the real agents with their cover"

Alex just nodded, not saying anything.

"But how can they use a child isn't that like, morally unethical?" Snape asked.

Thankfully it was eagle who answered, "well they are SO, so they can do whatever they want, and besides, it's not as if he actually does anything apart from look young."

"But why you?" Snake asked.

Alex thought for a second. "My dad and uncle were spies."

"Oh" eagle said "that makes sens- wait 'were' as in not anymore?"

Alex sucked in a shard breath. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! How could he have made such a stupid mistake.

- _A mistake could get you killed_ -

"Yh" Alex said, hoping k-unit were as dumb as they looked.

"So there dead" damn!

"Yep" Alex sighed.

Silence ascended.

"So who's office is this?" Eagle asked.

That was the question, wasn't it.

"It's mine" Alex finally bring.

"That's imposs-" wolf started, but cut himself. What was it that cub said.

 _'Doing the impossible'_

It seemed like a lifetime ago when wolf had that conversation with cub, not knowing it was cub. At that time he was just hearing a story, now he was living it.

"I'm not answering anymore of your questions. I'm an unofficial agent used to help mi6 and this is my office. I didn't lie, it was my father's, then my uncle's, and now it's mine. That's all you're getting out of me today."

He then stood up suddenly and walked out. Leaving four SAS soldiers behind my looked thoroughly stumped.

When they finally did exit the room, Alex. was no where in sight. They mentally all decided to head to wolfs house.

When they entered, the last thing they expected was to smell the sweet aroma of curry. It was enough to set wolf off.


	13. Chapter 13

It was purely by chance that Tom was walking were he was, when he saw Alex walk out of a house with a very muscley looking man, he had quickly called Sabina as he followed the two to the park. When Sabina came, they had walked around the park looking for Alex and had quite literally bumped into him. Or they would have, if he hadn't stepped aside with such agility.

He didn't even look up, he just muttered sorry and carried on walking.

Sabina had run after calling him to wait, and he had looked at her with those empty eyes, no sign of recognition for what they had done for him. Tom knew it was going to happen again, he just didn't know how soon. Last time, he had started forgetting long before he finally snapped. This time, he didn't know how long Alex had been going for, or how long he will keep going for.

When Sabina had tried to get him to recognise her, he just apologised, said she must have had the wrong person and walked away. He just walked away. Tom knew that it wasn't Alex's fault, but it still hurt. Hurt to see his best friend walk away from them.

Tom told Sabina that they would give Alex a few hours to himself before going to Alex's new guardians house, to visit. Maybe if they could get to know his guardian and they could cooperate to keep Alex safe. Though from what he had seen, the man didn't look like the cooperating type, more of the scowling 'if you even look at me I'll kills you' type of person.

So tom had told Sabina that they would each go home, freshen up and then go.

Only at the last moment, his brother jerry had wanted him to do something, so he had told Sabina to go ahead without him, he'll be about 10 minutes after her.

Wolf was angry. Wolf was angry and confused. Wolf was angry and confused and hungry. Wolf didn't know what he was, but whatever he was, he didn't like it.

When they entered the house, and had smelt curry, eagle and fox had bounded into the kitchen like some wild animals, followed by some much more cautious and suspicious snake and wolf. They all came to a halt outside the kitchen when they saw a specific someone moving around the kitchen without a care in the world-and was he humming?

It seemed as if he had forgotten completely about what he had said to them before he disappeared. Now that wolf thought about it, cub probably did forget.

"Hey cub!" Eagle said, "watcha cooking?"

"Something for me" came a light and mocking voice.

Eagles face fell. "What nothing for me?"

Fox smacked eagles hand.

"I mean us" he amended, "not me, us"

"Yh, I made some for you aswell, should be ready in 10 minutes."

"Great" wolf said, before anybody, could cut in. "Maybe you could clear some stuff up for us while you're at it."

Cub opened his mouth to object. But was cut off. "Nope not here, in the living room. I don't think I can manage anything you say standing up."

Wolf didn't even wait for a reply, he just left, expecting the others to follow him, which they did.

Once they all sat down, wolf spoke.

"How did you get to be an agent for mi6?"

His teammates visibly winced at his lack of tact, but wolf didn't care, and as it turned out, neither did cub.

"I'm not an agent." He said calmly.

"What do you mean?" Eagle spluttered. "You told us that you were"

"I told you I was unofficial."

"That doesn't make any sense." Snake argued.

"I never said it did, did I?"

"Point taken" eagle muttered.

"Listen, as much as I would love to stay and chat about my unfortunate life, I can't, the food is going to bur-"

Alex cut himself short and his eyes widened.

He seemed to mouth a word to himself, which the soldiers, who were pros at lip reading, read 'burn'.

Cubs face had scrunched up in confusion at the one word. He repeated it again, and then said it out loud.

"Burn?"

Fox, understanding this as an opportunity, spoke.

"What about burn?"

Cub visibly flinched at the word, but he didn't seem to have realised.

"I don't know"

It seemed as if his body and mind were two separate things.

"Burn" fox said again, urning another flinch.

"What about burn?" He flinched, but his voice held no emotion, but innocent confusion.

"Burn" fox said again.

"Burn"

"Burn"

Why are you saying-"

"Burn"

It was strange, to say the least, seeing a person flinch repeatedly.

"Burn"

"Burn"

And suddenly, the facade on Cubs face broke.

" _Shut up_!" He screamed filling out the hollow silence.

"Stop saying it." He screamed again. "Stop saying that god damned word" he shouted.

"Why Alex?" Fox said, raising his voice to be heard.

"Because it hurts" cub screamed, his voice cracking.

"Why does it hurt?"

"Because she d-"

And suddenly it was over.

It was over as suddenly as it had began, and the fragile silence held the soldiers in place.

"What are you guys staring at?"

Silence.

"I knew I was interesting, definitely interesting enough for you to keep staring at me, but please, it's really creepy."

Silence.

"All righty then, I'll just go check on the food"

And he got up to leave.


	14. Chapter 14

Alex walked out and k-unit watched him leave with barely concealed apprehension.

"Please god help me." Wolf breathed. "I don't think I'm able to take care of cub anymore. I finally understand why all the other agents gave up on cub. I mean-"

Wolf was cut off sound of glass shattering.

Alex watched the glass shatter and felt something deep inside him break. It wasn't like a bone breaking, but like something deep within him, his very own core, shattering.

He felt someone coming behind him and turned around to see none other than himself walking towards him.

Strange.

He put his hands against the counter behind to support himself, and watched himself walk slowly towards him.

"Julius?"

"Hello Alex. Did you miss me?"

"Julius?"

"Alex I have some friends who wanted to talk to you."

Julius stepped aside and Alex saw a ruler straight line of people stretching further than he could see. And at the front of them was sayle. They all seemed to be holding something in their hands.

Slowly they all stood side by side and Alex's eyes widened as he saw every single one of his enemies stand shoulder to shoulder holding a stone their hands.

"Alex all I wanted was some justice to be done against the prime minister, but you ruined all my hard work. I spent years of blood sweat and tears to try and get my plan to work but you ruined it."

Alex shook his head. "No I didn't mean to- I mean you were going to kill children"

But sayle raised his hand and threw his rock at Alex.

Alex brought a hand to protect himself, but it never hit him. Instead it hit a glass wall not unlike the one Mrs Jones had to protect herself.

The stone hit, and a small crack appeared, and Alex felt a searing pain go through him. He doubled over as an instant reaction but the pain stopped as suddenly as it had come.

"All I wanted was world domination Alex, but you stopped me. And I only wanted you to be a science experiment for my children to get some insight on humans, but you were selfish and didn't want to do it. How did you feel when you led that snowmobile into my helicopter and killed me. How did you feel taking the life of a human away?"

Alex didn't have time to answer because Grief threw his stone and Alex could barely hold back the scream as another rock hit the glass.

"I just wanted to adopt you Alex, because I loved you, but you refused, and i killed myself because of you. How did you live with the guilt?"

Another rock. Another crack. Another sear of pain.

"Stop it" Alex begged, his voice hoarse from trying to not scream.

"I wanted to stop drug use. I wanted to save humanity. I brought a children's game to life. What did I do wrong? What did you feel, when you threw me into that jet mortar? Did you feel remorse for my horrific end?"

Another rock.

"Stop please stop" Alex begged. His body betrayed him as his knees collapsed and he let out a scream.

"I loved your father and I loved you too. I wanted to protect you from mi6 give you another path. But you betrayed us. And you killed me."

"Stop it please. Stop it. I didn't mean too. I had to. I was forced to."

"Forced to Alex? Forced to switch places with my son in the hospital"

Another rock. Pain so much pain. The cracks on the glass were spreading.

"Forced to search for Damien cray"

"Forced to look for scorpia"

The rocks kept hitting, they never stopped.

"Forced to accept the mission with Asis. Or did you just do it so you could find out more about your father from your godfather. Your selfish. And you blame everyone but yourself."

"I'm sorry" Alex was screaming now "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kill anyone. I didn't want to kill anyone"

He let out a guttural scream as one rock made a bigger hit. "Stop it. It hurts. Please stop."

"Oh Alex, you're asking us to stop? You didn't stop when you destroyed people's plans that they spent time and money on isn't it? You destroyed and took people's lives without second thought"

"I'm sorry" Alex screamed. "I didn't mean to kill anybody. Please."

"When you held a gun to my head, what went through your thoughts. Did you think about the life you were ending? Or were you just thinking about the lives you were saving. Just like you're employers. What's one life for millions, right?"

"No, please, I'm nothing like blunt. I am guilty and I'm selfish."

"Are you sure about that? You seem to find it ok to take people's lives. Look at everyone here. Everyone who you have killed"

"No I didn't want to kill anyone"

"Alex I loved you. And we were going to have the whole world do our bidding, Bow down to us. But you were ungrateful and selfish. And you killed me.

"I didn't want to kill you." The pain was becoming more than unbearable.

Another rock.

"Please stop. It hurts" his voice was becoming raw from screaming., he was chocking on his sobs, but the pain didn't yield.

The cracks on the glass were getting bigger and bigger, as rock after rock hit it.

Rock after rock after rock.

"Alex. You're the most selfish person on this planet, and everyone around you dies one by one by one. Why don't you just die and save the lives of those around you?"

The cracks joined together and Alex let out one final earth shattering guttural scream as the glass shattered completely.

And then...

Silence.


	15. Chapter 15

K-unit watched as the youngest person in there unit was tortured by his own mind. As he yelled and thrashed and screamed of death and killing and blame and pain. They could do nothing but call his name. He wouldn't let any of them come closer.

They could barely restrain themselves as they kept trying to call his name even though they knew their efforts were futile.

Alex screamed and screamed and screamed

And then...

Silence.

The sudden lack of noise held every occupant of the room in place. Each on looker fearing that one movement would shatter the silence. No one said anything. No one moved. No one breathed. No one dared

They watched as Alex's eyes lost all light, become hardened into steal. They watched as his shoulders relaxed and his mouth curved into an unnerving grin.

What had happened?

But still he did not move, and neither did any other person.

The soldiers shot looks at each other, but the boy looked at no one.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

Sabina pleasure Knocked on the door of the house that Tom had given her. He told her to go there and he would come later on. As she knocked on the door, she prepared herself for how she was going to introduce herself to Alex's new guardians when Alex didn't even know her.

The knock surprised everyone and k-unit looked at cub.

His mouth moved without making any sound, and then,

"Unknown threat requesting entry to house. Course of action: deny entry until until threat is recognised"

Alex got up.

"Woah woah cub where're you going?" Wolf said holding out his hands.

Alex cocked his head to the side.

"Threat identified. SAS soldier. Name: unknown. Threat:denying exit. Percentage: 68%. Course of action: render unconscious"

Cub shot out a hand to hit wolf, but thanks to his SAS training, he was able to block.

"Cub calm down. What happened to you?"

"Threat attempting to distract using speech. Course of action: ignore"

"Cub stop talking like that" wolf yelled while trying to dodge another well aimed hit.

"Eagle go see who is at the door." Fox yelled "Snake help me stop cub" .

Eagle ran out of the kitchen to the door and opened it to see a pretty teenage girl at the door"

"Can I help you?" Eagle asked as a crash echoed from the kitchen. Eagle winced.

"Is everything ok?" The girl asked.

"Yes" eagle lied. "Just some family problems. So what do you want?" He couldn't help the rush and apprehension in his tone.

"I wanted to ask if this is were Alex rider was staying"

Sabina watched the mans emotions go from rushed to surprise in moments.

"Who is asking?"

"My name is Sabina pleasure. I'm a friend of Alex."

The man looked at her suspiciously. "From school?"

"Um no. We haven't a spoken in a while and I just came to visit from America. So is he here?"

"Eagle hurry up and come" came snakes voice. "we need your help. There is something wrong with cub."

"Threat attempting to contact back up" came Alex's robotic voice from the kitchen.

Sabinas felt herself pale.

" no" she gasped. "No, no, no". She brought her hands up to her face trying to block the oncoming memories.

The man, (eagle she found out) turned to look at her. "What do you mean oh no?"

Another crash came from the living room.

Eagle watched the girl pale until she became an unnatural colour, and her eyes widened with fear.

He didn't even think about it. He just let her in.

Sabina ran into the the living room and was met with a nightmare sight.

Two men were fighting Alex and one was on the floor, probably unconscious.

"Eagle what are you doing letting a teenager in" shouted one of the men.

"STOP" Sabina screamed at the top of her lungs." STOP! LEAVE HIM ALONE" This could not be happening. No no no!

the two men simultaneously stopped and took a step back.

"Threat stopped attack." He then turned to Sabina, and Sabina flinched at the coldness in his eyes, the lack of recognition. The eye that haunted her dreams after last time.

"New threat in position. Teenage girl. Threat percentage 15%. Course of action: ignore"

"Alex" she breathed. "Please Not again. Remember what happened last time?"

Last time it had been horrible. It had been just her and Tom with Alex and-

Tom, she should call Tom.

Sabina pulled out her phone and dialled toms number.

"Low percentage Threat attempting to contact back up. Course of action: stop threat"

Sabina watched with wide eyes as Alex walked towards her. This happened last time when she tried to call help from an adult. He had stopped her and it had hurt. But that was a year ago, and at that time she didn't understand what was happening. But this time she did.

One of the men made to stop Alex, but she held out a hand to stop him.

She then looked at Alex. Looked into his eyes, and deep down into his soul, but she couldn't see anything but darkness.

"Alexander Jonathan rider" she said in her most severe tone. She couldn't touch him, but she hoped that the strength in her voice would be enough to make him pause.

He stopped midstep and put his leg down.

She hated this. She hated what he had become. He had become a machine. A machine created by his uncle and polished by mi6 and scorpia. Used by everyone, everywhere. It meant that he had to be treated like a machine.

She felt tears swell in her eyes.

Alex was not a machines. Alex was a human being. But nothing in his eyes showed anything remotely human.

"Hello Sabina."

All eyes snapped to the phone.

Alex stared forward again.

Sabina held up her hand.

"Alexander Jonathan rider, you will not move from your position, nor will you say or do anything."

He obeyed straight away, and Sabina hated herself and hated everyone and damned her self to the deepest darkest pits of hell. She didn't want to treat Alex like a machine.

"Crap crap crap. Sabina please don't tell me that your talking to Alex" came Toms voice from the phone.

"Tom it happened again" Sabina voice cracked, and she let one sob out before pulling herself together.

"Tom I don't think I can do this any longer. How fast can you get here?"

"I was already making my way there to see Alex. Give me 5 minutes"

"Thanks"

"Sabina you have to keep it together ok?"

"Yes" but her voice wavered

"Sabina you have to keep it together for Alex"

"Ok" she said with more assurity

"Good I'm coming."

Sabina shut the phone and slid it into her pocket.

She looked at Alex again and felt the first tear slide down her face at what her best friend had been turned into.

"Alex look at me" she commanded.

His eyes shifted to hers and she felt herself break at the darkness that he radiated.

"Alex" she breathed. "Don't do this to yourself"

It was not a command and so he did not listen.

Another tear escaped her eye. She couldn't do this anymore.

She let her gaze shift to the ground and the control she held over Alex broke.

He started walking towards her.

"Low percentage threat has called back up, and High percentage threats still present in the room. One regaining consciousness , and two injured. One in healthy position.

Alex then shifted his attention to eagle.

Sabina tried, she really tried to stop Alex, but she couldn't, she couldn't treat him like a machine.

"Alex" she tried. But her voice held no command and she couldn't stop him.

Eagle, the poor man, was looking at lost for what to do. He was supposed to protect himself, but he didn't want to hurt Alex.

The man got into a defensive position, and Alex got into an attack position.

Just went Alex was about to attack he stopped.

"Alexander Jonathan rider" came toms strong and confident voice. The door was probably left open and he ran in. He was still taking deep breaths, but his voice was steady.

"Stop what your doing and stand straight. I don't want to hear a word about threat. You will do as your told and remain silent. You will not hurt a single person in this room. You will not go against the orders of any person in this room. You will listen to me."

Alex went still. Completely and utterly still.

Tom then walked up to Alex. Alex didn't tense because Alex didn't have human emotions.

Tom stopped right next to Alex. Tom then extended his arm and hit a spot on Alex's neck.

Alex crumpled and fell unconscious straight away.

Tom caught Alex and led him into the sofa with a grunt as Sabina let out a sob of relief and guilt. Tom then walked towards her and looked at each other. They alone understood each other's grief for their best friend.

"Why Tom? Why does he have to go through all this? Why can't those god damn Devils just leave him alone?" Her volume increased with every word.

"Sabina I know"

"Why should he have to suffer through all this? He's just a teenager. God dammit he's our age, but it's not like they have any morals or ethics" her voice finally cracked and see couldn't hold back the tears.

She rushed to Alex's side and dropped on the floor next to his head. She couldn't stop it any longer and began crying into his shoulder.


	16. Chapter 16

Tom was feeling drained and he didn't want to do anything other than sleep. Forcing yourself to do something you don't want to do is a lot harder than one might think. Especially when it means almost mind controlling your best friend.

But seeing that there were three strangers in the room who had just witnessed everything, Tom realised that he would have to do some explaining

Rubbing his forehead against the oncoming headache, Tom gestures to one of the men.

"Is there somewhere we could go?"

The shortest of the men nodded, and they all went to he kitchen.

The kitchen was normal sized, but that didn't mean it was made for 5 people, four of which had more muscle than the average.

"I bet you're wondering what the hell just happened?" Tom chuckled, he thought that it was always best to start a serious conversation lightly, even though he the 4 men were being very intimidating.

And to emphasise their intimidating abilities, they remained silent, staring at Tom. (Probably still in shock)

"It's probably best that we start of with introductions"

Silence.

This was going to be harder than he thought.

"My name is Tom Harris. I'm Alex's best friend, and been since he saved my butt from the school bullies. I like chocolate and cake. But not chocolate cake. And you guys are?"

Silence.

"Are you guys going to say anything?"

One of the men seemed to snap out of his shock.

"I'm Ben Daniels, and we are k-unit-"

"Not the k-unit" Tom exclaimed "the ones that bullied Alex for 10 days. Which one of you is wolf"

Ben pointed to the shortest man

"Is it true that Alex kicked you out of the helicopter because you were afraid of heights?"

All of k-unit whipped their head around to their leader who shifted uncomfortably but refused to be embarrassed.

"What happened to Alex?" Wolf asked trying to change the subject.

The boy raised one eyebrow

"Well you know how Alex is-" the boy stopped abruptly. "Wait how much do you know?"

Wolf knew that this was rocky ground "not much, just that he is a kid with unnatural abilities and is intertwined with mi6. And his father is an mi6 agent, and that he is a low ranking unofficial agent, used to help with undercover."

Tom looked at wolf suspiciously "and what is Alex doing here?"

"That's classified information" wolf replied.

Tom raised his eyebrows "oh really, then would I be correct in guessing that one of you are his temporary guardians which mi6 has asked to look after Alex. Probably telling you something along the line of 'disobedience' and 'behaviour' problems."

Surprise flashed across wolfs face before returning to nonchalance.

"You may be correct"

"Great" Tom was grinning, seemingly completely ignorant to the suspicion radiating from the soldiers. "Then we will get along just fine. Although I don't think we would because you are like what? Soldiers and I'm like a teenager and those two don't usually work well tog-"

"Stop" wolf interrupted "can you please tell us what happened to Alex?"

"Oh I'm sorry, I must be babbling but when I get nervous or intimidated I talk a lot and you all are like soldiers with muscles and everything and you are very intimidating so-"

"What's happened to Alex?" Wolf interrupted again very pointedly.

"Sorry." Tom said, finally calming down "are any of you familiar with a guy named dudnugul?"

He was met with confusion from all the soldiers apart from Ben.

"What about him?" Ben asked.

"Who is he?" Snake followed.

"Well he was a psychologist from like the olden times and he has some very unique views about human nature."

"Go on" eagle promoted.

"Well he thought that a human was split into two parts, the spiritual and the physical. The spiritual was like the emotions and stuff like that whereas the physical was the body and stuff. Basically he thought that those two aspects co-exist at equal balance to form a human and when one side is assaulted, the other side gains power. He thought that explained why when people broke a part of their body they become upset or when they get hurt they cry.

He was very curious to what would happen if one aspect was pushed to the point of breakage. He thought that if the physical part of a person was destroyed then the emotional will take over and lead to stuff like suicide.

But he had no idea what would happen if someone broke their spiritual part. You know that's were the saying broken spirit comes from.

And my newly made acquaintances and previous oppressors of my closest friend have just witnessed what a broken spirit actually is"

He put his hands together "any questions?"

Absolute silence met toms conclusion, each trying to process and connects dots that don't exist.

"But that doesn't make sense" wolf cried out in frustration. "What could he possibly have done to make him a "broken spirit" or whatever you said."

Tom searched wolf before answering "it's classified, and besides, it's not my story to tell."

"What actually happened?" Snake asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we've already gathered that this has happened before, and you seem to understand what happened, so what did happen to cub"

"It's kinda confusing. And Sabina and I had to do like hours of research before understanding, mind you, Alex didn't say a single word, me and Sabina had to work it out.

Which one of you is Alex's guardians?" They all looked at wolf.

Tom paused for a second before continuing.

"Have you noticed Alex forgetting things lately. Not things like his phone, but like spacing out and not remembering."

Wolf nodded hesitantly.

"Well he has seen and done things greater than most adults. He is emotionally hurt and his 'spirit' is constantly pushed, and it just broke."

"But war veterans have also seen a lot, how come this doesn't happen to them?" Eagle asked

"I am going to ask you a question, what is the most obvious difference between Alex and a war veteran?" Tom asked

There was silence before snake answered "Cub is a kid?"

"Correct. Alex is a kid, a child, who doesn't understand how to face his problems. While a war veteran will like go to phycologist or something, Alex, does something else.

When children get hurt, their main aim is to stop the pain, the do not care about long term effect or stuff like that. You know how when children get scraped, they refuse anti-septic because it burns even though it helps, whereas an adult will be willingly take it because they know it's purpose.

Anyway, that's more of the physical part. When Alex's memories became too strong, he did the easiest thing, he chose to forget about them.-"

"Wait how is that even possible?" Wolf cut in.

Tom took a moment to think before answering.

"Alex's survival instinct is very strong, it would beat the soldiers' no sweat. You're probably wondering how that is even possible, and it's because his uncle has trained him from birth-"

"His uncle? What about his parents?" Eagle asked.

"They died when he was like one." Tom answered.

Silence.

"So what have survival instincts got to do with all of this?" Snake asked.

"When someone's survival instincts are at a certain level, they are able to do anything to keep them in perfect condition. Forgetting something, became almost second nature to him."

"Your making no sense" eagle cried in frustration, if cub can so easily forget, then how come that happened?" He gestured to the living room.

"Alex is a child" Tom repeated "he doesn't do things properly. Forgetting memories doesn't make them go away. He doesn't give them a chance to show, he bottles them up. Let me ask you what happens when someone bottles up all their emotions"

"They explode?" Eagle said.

"Yep. They explode, shatter, break. And that's what happened to Alex. "

That was it. That was what had happened to Alex.

Alex had just broken.

"How come he hasn't seen a psychiatrist?" Ben said. It was the first thing he said throughout the whole explanations.

There was a laugh from behind, and they all turned around to see Sabina walk in and lean against the counter. Her eyes were bloodshot but no tears were visible.

"And what would a psychiatrist do? Alex is too damn stubborn to accept help and he was trained enough by his uncle and god knows who else to be able to hide his emotions."

"But psychiatrists are trained to uncover these things" Ben countered.

She laughed again, a cold, humourless sound.

"And may I ask you which type of psychiatrist he should see. What he has been through is something that adults go through, but he is still a child. And I doubt that there is a single child in the world who has done what Alex has done."

"So what?" Wolf countered, "they would know how to help him"

This time Ben answered.

"The whole of phycology is based on trial and error for past experience, that's how the physiatrists treat their patients. If you are the first of your kind to suffer through this then no one knows how to help you"

"But can't they do it based on theory?" wolf tried again.

"Not if the patient is unwilling to co-operate" replied Ben.

At that statement, they all lapsed into silence.

"What's going to happen next?" Eagle asked.

The soldiers turned to the two teenagers in the room who shifted uncomfortably.

"Well last time this happened, Alex collapsed from exhaustion. When he woke up again, it was as if nothing had happened. He was completely normal. The strange thing was, he didn't remember anything about his past. I'm talking about the bad stuff. He wouldn't explain anything, but me and Sabina gathered that while he was unconscious, he quickly patched himself up, trying to cover up the things he doesn't want. The only time he ever showed knowledge of what happened was when he told me how to knock him unconscious incase it happens again.

"What's going to happen this time?" Snake asked.

"only time would tell" Tom answered.

Suddenly eagle snapped his finger. "You guys called him Alexander Jonathan Rider. He wouldn't happen to be related to Ian Rider."

Sabina looked confused, but Tom's eyes widened. "How do you know Ian rider?"

"We were back up for him on a couple of missions" eagle answered slowly, seeing the tension in the kids voice.

Tom relaxed, all tension diminishing, and the grin returned to his face. "Ian rider was Alex's uncle, the one who trained him"

"But that's not possible. Cub himself said he didn't know who Ian rider was"

Tom took a moment to consider, "he made himself forget Ian"

"But why?"

"Let's just say, his uncle had quite a big hand in everything that has happened to him."


	17. Chapter 17

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and everyone froze.

Slowly wolf got up and walked to the door and everyone else followed him, curious.

Wolf opened the door and there stood a women wearing a dull grey suit.

Wolf's eyes widened.

"Mrs-"

"Please can I come in?" She interrupted.

Wolf moved out of the way in shock, not believing that the deputy head of mi6 was here, in his house!

"What can I do for you Mrs Jones?" Wolf said closing the door behind her as she stepped into the hall way

"You're Mrs Jones" Tom exclaimed. "For some reason, I always imagined you shorter with fish skin."

Something close to amusement flashed across Mrs Jones face "I'm sure Alex took great pleasure in describing me to you"

Wolf nearly fell of his chair. Mrs Jones, deputy head of mi6, using humour.

"Well he didn't really describe how you looked, he just said something along the lines of lifeless, fish skinned, manipulative, lying, sadistic blackmailers, who should go die in the hunger games"

"And were did the idea of short come from?" Mrs Jones asked.

"Well leprechauns are liars and very manipulative, so I just thought..."

Mrs Jones laughed, Mrs Jones actually laughed "well I'm sure my boss would love to hear that we are being described as leprechauns."

"Alex never said you had humour" Tom commented.

"Is there a reason for you being here?" Wolf interrupted.

Mrs Jones became very serious.

"I came here for a number of reason, but can we go into the living room"

Wolf nodded and led the way into the living room. As soon as he entered, he froze, and he felt someone bumped into him from behind.

"What the hell wolf?" Shouted eagle.

Wolf was too shocked to reply, because on the couch, a specific 16 year old was missing.

"Where'd cub go?" Eagle asked as he stepped into the room.

"WHAT?" Tom and Sabina shouted simultaneous and forced their way into the room.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, Alex goddammit where have you gone." Tom whispered.

Sabina looked at Tom, "where do you think he went?"

"Why would he go anywhere?" Tom yelled in frustration:

Everyone remained silent after that.

K-unit seamed at complete lost. They reunite with their unofficial 5th member, then witness him breakdown, and now his disappearance.

"Could he have gone to his uncles house?" Sabina asked.

"Ian's house?" Tom shook his head. "No, Alex hasn't been to that place in over half a year, he probably doesn't even remember it."

Suddenly a paper fluttered in from the open window and landed face down on the coffee table.

Everyone froze, watching the movement of the paper.

After what seemed like a never ending silence, wolf walked to the coffee table and picked up the paper. He read what was written on it and his face scrunched up in confusion.

"It's probably rubbish that flew in, it doesn't even make any sense."

But Mrs Jones thought otherwise.

"Read it aloud" she said.

"The scorpion had been watching the rider, watching him ride the high waves and the low waves, and has even taught him to ride the tough waves. The scorpion now watched the rider forget, watched the rider forget all that it has learnt, watched and waited for when the rider was at its weakest. Now the scorpion has struck and has taken the rider with him. But do not fear. It will teach the rider again. Teach the rider how to ride a horse rather than a wave, and when the rider is ready, the rider will return, but that rider won't be the same as the one who was taken.

And that is who you must fear."

Mrs Jones paled drastically, but before anybody could ask, she whipped out her phone.

"Alan, he's gone, taken."

She went silent, listening to the instructions that were given, before she shut the phone.

She then turned to the other occupants of the room.

"He's been taken hasn't he?" Tom swallowed. "By them, the scorpions"

Mrs Jones nodded slowly.

"And what are you going to do about it" Sabina spoke calmly, her eyes lined with silver the only sign of her emotions.

"I'm going to speak to my senior and we will decide" Mrs Jones spoke with no emotion as always, and held Sabinas intense gaze almost reluctantly.

"What are you going to do about it?" Tom echoed Sabina, pitting emphasis on 'you'.

The threat was clear in his voice. Nobody noted how laughable the notion that a 16 year old would try and threaten the deputy head of mi6.

"I will do my best to find him." Mrs Jones said, her status the only thing keeping her eyes locked with Sabina.

"You will find him" said Sabina, intensifying her glare, forcing Mrs Jones to back down.

Mrs Jones nodded but said nothing.

Silence hung in the air like a death sentence over the occupants until one dared to break it.

"Mrs Jones" said fox. "Has Alex been kidnapped?"

Mrs Jones looked at him. "Yes he has"

"By who?" Wolf asked.

Mrs Jones hesitated, and then chose not to speak.

"By who?" Repeated wolf.

Silence remained the answer.

"By who?" Wolf tried one more time.

"By scorpia" said Tom, his voice unyielding and bitter, His eyes locked on Mrs Jones.

"WHAT?!" Exclaimed fox wolf eagle and snake simultaneously.

Mrs Jones looked at Tom, expression showing nothing. "That's classified information"

Tom raised one eyebrow mockingly. "Really Mrs Jones?" He drawled.

She was about to reply when wolf interrupted.

"Mrs Jones, is the kid telling the truth"

"The kid has a name you know"

"Yes, he is" said Mrs Jones, turning her gaze to wolf.

"So are you saying" snake began "that cub was kidnapped by the number one criminal organisation in the world?"

"No" said Tom, a ghost of a smile on his face. "Their not the number one anymore"

Snake turned sharply to Tom. "And how would you know that? How do you even know about them?"

"I just do. Ok? And that's not important at the moment"

"He's right" said Mrs Jones, "our first priority is to get back Alex Rider from scorpia"

Everyone noticed the way she used 'get back' instead of 'save'.

"Mrs Jones" said snake, "what we don't understand is why a criminal organisation would want to kidnap a teenager."

"Yeah Mrs Jones, why?" Drawled Tom.

Mrs Jones was trapped, she couldn't lie, because their were two people in the room who knew the truth and wouldn't let her, but she couldn't tell the truth because its if the highest classified information with only three people officially knowing; her, Alan, and Alex. And she didn't think the soldiers would be able to handle the shock without going on a rage.

"Alex rider holds some valuable information whi-" she began but was interrupted by a simultaneous snort from Tom and Sabina.

"Mrs Jones" Sabina said, "haven't your parents ever told you that lying is bad"

"I'm not lying"

"Mrs Jones, can you tell us the truth?" Asked eagle.

Mrs Jones looked from Tom and Sabina to the soldiers, then mentally sighed. This was not going to be easy.

"Alex's father had some dealings with scorpia-"

"Wait isn't Alex's father dead?" Asked eagle.

"Yes, this was before he died" said Mrs Jones.

"So what if Alex's father had some dealings with scorpia?" Asked Ben.

"We believe that this is some kind of revenge plot"

"Mrs Jones, please" said Tom, "can't you respect the fact that these soldiers are now worried about Alex, tell them the goddamn truth is that the real reason scorpia kidnapped Alex was because they wanted revenge on him for bringing down two of their operations, and being the sole reason for why they are no longer the number one criminal organisation in the world."

"Mr Harris! That is classified information, you can't just go around spilling government secrets"

"Actually you will find that I can say whatever I want since I haven't actually signed the official secrets act." Tom said

"Mrs Jones" wolf said, struggling to get himself under control. "I would really appreciate it if we all sat down and you explain exactly what is happening, rather than bits and pieces"

Mrs Jones nodded, and they all sat down.

"What I'm about to tell you," Mrs Jones began, "is the worlds most classified government secret, and the governments most shameful act.

Alex has already told you that he's an agent for mi6 and has led you to believe that he is of lower standard, used to help people to go undercover without suspicion. You believed this even though he didn't actually say it.

The truth is, the boy you know as Alex or cub is the number one agent.

Silence...

"Number one?" Ben whispered, unable to comprehend the fact that Alex, the 16 year old was number one.

"Yes" replied Mrs Jones.

"But that's not possible, he's only 16, how can he be mi6's number one agent?"

A ghost of a smile passed Mrs Jones face, almost sad, as if looking into the past, but it was gone as quickly as it had come.

"Who said anything about mi6?"

"Wait" Ben said, his brain short circuiting, "when you say number one ranking agent..."

Sabina chocked on a laugh, "yes, that's right, 16 year old Alex rider, is the number one agent in the world"

Mrs Jones watched as four thoroughly trained elite SAS soldiers, lost all professional composure. She couldn't help but smile. Alex, only Alex, can do this, can make heads of intelligence, lose their temper, soldiers, lose their composure.

"Mrs Jones" Tom Harris said, breaking Mrs Jones out of her thoughts, "what's happening now with regards to Alex?"

"Alex is the number one, all intelligence and military organisations are looking for him as we speak."

"Mrs Jones" Tom hesitated , "the note from scorpia, what did it mean?"

Mrs Jones hesitated, "I'm not sure"

"Mrs Jones" Sabina warned. "As deputy head of military intelligence, you must have some idea of what scorpia is planning to do with our best Friend" her anger breaking out on the last few words.

Mrs Jones looked at the two teenagers, at the fear and worry and anger and stubbornness in their eyes, all because of their love for a boy who has lost everything.

"Scorpia have taken him" Mrs Jones said, her voice dry, "they've taken him when he was at his weakest, meaning when he- when he- and their planning to do something-" Mrs Jones hesitated, she knew exactly what scorpia were planning to do, but she couldn't tell them, their innocence protected them, and she couldn't stand the though of taking the innocence of another child away. She couldn't. She wouldn't.

"Their threatening us" she managed, "I don't know with what-yet."

"Mrs Jones, are you sure?" Tom asked.

Mrs Jones looked him in the eye. "Yes"

The word forced silence in the air until wolf decided to break it.

"Mrs Jones" he said, drawing attention to him from all occupants of the room. His eyes were unreadable, but focused and decided. "What can we do to help?"


	18. 17 epilogue

6 months later...

"I'm sorry soldiers, but agent rider has been missing for six months now and we have to presume he was killed in action. We are calling off the search and sending all units back to their training grounds, to resume their training."

The 40 or so SAS units nodded their heads and walked away, all looking defeated. They all already knew what the mi6 women was going to say. After the whole world searching for one person for 6 months with no luck, you get the feeling that their is no more point.

One unit in particular seemed to be more depressed than the others.

"That's it isn't it. Cubs gone."


	19. Not a chapter

To the fanfictioners who have just completed reading my latest fanfiction: broken spirit.

I know my ending was horrible but the truth is I have never been good at endings.

But!

This is not the end!

The sequel to this fanfiction has been in my head since halfway through this fanfiction, and I have began writing it on Sunday 9/10/2016.

The first chapter is halfway done.

But for those who have realised it, I don't publish a fanfiction until it is completely written, edited gone through etc.

So it will roughly take me 5months to complete the sequel and post it.

Happy reading fanfictioners!


	20. Chapter 20

Heyyyyyyy fanfictioners, how's it going? It's been so long since I've posted anything, but honestly it's been a hectic year. I had my GCSE's last year and I've started my a-levels now. I know, I feel so old. I have so little time for anything anymore. The sequel to broken spirit is almost done but I'm having trouble finishing it. The ending is written and I'm over halfway there, but I'm having trouble connecting the final parts. But I couldn't stand seeing the other chapters just sitting there, so I decided to start posting then. First of all are two bridge FanFictions. One is a two shot called 'MI6's decision." And the second is a one shot called "the choices we make."  
Please read them before you read the sequel. I'm calling the sequel "Under the banner of hope".  
Thank you so much for sticking with me through this time. I've read all the comments and every time I received a notification saying this person has liked you story, I feel a burst of joy. It goes a long way to making my day. So thank you again.  
Enjoy reading.


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